Plovdiv Initiates Free Public Transport Cards for Children Aged 7 to 14
Starting this morning, the city of Plovdiv commenced the distribution of free travel cards for public transport to students aged 7 to 14
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.
In 2024, labor inspectors in Bulgaria carried out a total of 6,682 inspections in the construction sector, representing 13% of the overall 49,858 inspections conducted across all industries
According to a study presented to MPs by Prof. Emilia Chengelova, from the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the shadow (grey/informal) economy in Bulgaria remains high at 33%
A recent survey by digital payments company Visa reveals that most Bulgarians planning a winter vacation prefer to pay digitally at ski resorts
the last quarter of 2024, the proportion of properties purchased with mortgage loans in Bulgaria grew to 27%, or roughly every third property
Bulgaria's labor market remained stagnant throughout 2024
Retail sales across the European Union showed a decline in December, with both the eurozone and the EU reporting decreases
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