The Bulgarian government has unexpectedly abandoned plans for the shut-down of Sofia only operational landfill by 2010, it emerged on Sunday.

Representatives of the crisis headquarters, established by the prime minister in a bid to organize better garbage collection in the capital, had suggested that a new landfill is built to house the capital garbage by the time a plant for recycling it is built.

On Sunday, just a week later, the Environmental Ministry surprisingly announced in a statement that Suhodol dump site will continue to operate by the time a plant for recycling the garbage is constructed.

Residents of Suhodol district in Sofia have repeatedly staged rallies, demanding the closing of the dumpsite on the western outskirts of Bulgaria's capital, citing health and environmental concerns.

The dumpsite was reopened at the beginning of December 2007 after the environment ministry backed the controversial option to prevent a looming garbage crisis in the capital.

Suhodol residents forced Sofia authorities to introduce crisis management in July 2005 after blockading the landfill. The protests left the streets in the capital littered with garbage, posing a serious risk to human health and the environment.

Finding a solution to Sofia ongoing waste problems is a politically sensitive issue in the months before the parliamentary elections in the summer as the mayor of the capital Boyko Borisov heads the opposition party with the highest public approval rates so far.

The Socialist-led government officially declared a state of emergency in Sofia at the beginning of April over lack of adequate waste removal, saying that the garbage problems threatened national security and citing health and environmental concerns. The opposition party of Sofia mayor GERB dismissed this as pre-election muscle pumping.