The Bulgarian capital Sofia is going to run out of graveyard plots within five or six months.

This has been announced Monday by Ventsislav Grigorov, Director of the "Cemetery Parks" Company of the Sofia Municipality.

Grigorov said urgent expansion of the cemeteries in Sofia were needed to cope with the situation.

In his words, the cemetery in the Malashevtsi Quarter would probably be expanded by 40 decares but since the Municipality had no money to compensate the private owners whose lands would be expropriated, it would probably just swap them for plots elsewhere. Another plot of 35 decares is currently being expropriated by the local authorities in Sofia in order to expand the graveyard in the Bakarena Fabrika quarter.

Grigorov's administration is also working on a project to create an above-the-ground burial facility at the Central Sofia Cemetery where special chemical substances would be used to decompose the bodies there for up to two years, and will then be placed in small coffins, and in special niches into the wall of the facility.

Grigorov said the major issue before the cemeteries administration had to do with increasing security. Only 4 police officers are presently employed at guarding all the cemeteries in Sofia.

The Boldo Security Firm has won the tender for guarding all cemeteries in Sofia but its competitor Egida is appealing the procedure which means that for at least 5-6 months the graveyards would be left without guarding.

Grigorov said he had information that officers of the Egida firm had aided vandals in stealing copper and iron elements from the graves by warning them when the police would inspect the respective spot.

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