Building license fees in Bulgaria will be increased gradually, Peter Dikov, Sofia’s chief architect , said at the BalREc conference. This will probably happen next year.

The reason for the measure is that building permit fees are the only way for Sofia to collect money to finance its infrastructure. In Belgrad fees are between 250 and 430 euro/sq m for the central part of the city. Fees in Bucharest are lower. In Bulgaria they are 7 euros, Dikov said.

He pointed out there would be a two-three-year transition period between the introduction of the new fees and the moment, when investors will no longer be obliged to build parts of the infrastructure, because Sofia needed money to invest in infrastructure, Dikov added.