Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova has said that the five main buildings of the waste processing plant in Sofia are to be built by end-November.

Fandakova pointed out in a Tuesday interview that the plant was to become functional in the autumn of 2015.

She noted that the plant was to process 410 000 tonnes of waste a year, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio.

Fandakova said that the halted payments under the "Environment" Operational Program had to be restored urgently so that the implementation of the project could be completed on time.

She stressed that the waste processing plant, estimated to cost BGN 213 M, was to be built with EU funding of over 84%, adding that, unfortunately, the EU operational program was blocked.

Fandakova made clear that the Sofia Municipality would use its own funding, an advance payment transferred by the Ministry of Environment and Water at the beginning of the year, and funding provided by the European Investment Bank to pay for the activities already carried out by the end of the year.

She expressed hopes that the payments under the "Environment" Operational Program would be restored soon, adding that the caretaker government could not afford to waste any time in its efforts to recover the frozen EU funds.