The Sofia Municipality plans to sign concession contracts for a maximum period of 15 years for public transport stops in the capital, according to Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova.

Fandakova, as cited by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency, announced Tuesday that a consultant had drafted an analysis indicating that the concession deals were a good opportunity for attracting private investment in the sphere.

She said that there were nearly 2500 public transport stops in Sofia, with less than half of them having canopies and most of them in unsatisfying condition.

She said that the concession contracts would allow the use of private funding for the construction, upgrade, and maintenance of urban transport stops, while the available public resources would be redirected to other modernization measures.

The Sofia Mayor made clear that the consultant had proposed organizing the public transport stops into four lots, the minimum investment for all four being BGN 20 M.

She added that no more than two lots would be included in one concession contract.

Fandakova noted that the mandatory maximum deadline for the supply and installation of the new public transport stops was 36 months.