President Georgi Purvanov commented Sunday here that Sofia does not have a waste processing plant because somebody obviously gains from this situation. Speaking to reporters in the Danubian city of Rousse, he said that the public should be told who makes a profit at their expense and that the judicial authorities should look up the matter one day.

Sofia Mayor Boiko Borissov dismissed the President's remarks and said the matter was being politicized.

The crisis with Sofia's waste has been aggravating with the approaching of a late September deadline set by the European Commission for Sofia to deal with a pile of 600 000 t of baled Sofia waste built up for nearly two years until late 2007, when the Sofia's Souhodol landfill was temporarily closed. The Northeastern town of Silistra has agreed to take 180 000 t of bales and Environment Minister Djevdet Chakurov said about a week ago that a solution would be found and the government would not wait to be sanctioned by the European Commission.

President Purvanov also said that he has tried more than once to help solve the waste problem and find a location for waste disposal. "A location was secured, more than one ministry were mobilized and a decision was made, but it did not work because the Sofia mayor made an agreement with the local mayor that the project was unfeasible and maybe even unnecessary."
Other options will be sought now and any confrontation and politicization of the matter will be counterproductive, the President said.

He said he discussed the matter on Saturday with Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Plougchieva and is in touch over it with the other government ministers. He hopes that a solution will be found in the foreseeable future.

Sofia Mayor Borissov responded, "What could be the reasonable explanation for me to stop anybody who would want to built a [waste] plant!" "The matter is being politicized again because since I became mayor I have stopped the baling of waste and re-opened the lawful landfill in Souhodol," he said.

The mayor also said he regrets "having to argue with incompetent people who donТt even know the laws that have adopted". He recalled telling the MPs two years ago that the law should be changed to ensure a fast start of the project for Sofia's waste treatment plant.

The mayor was clearly referring to the long procedures required by the law for the start of waste treatment plant projects.

He went on to say that a waste separation facility will be commissioned in late September as the first stage of the waste treatment system. The projects for "the other facilities" will be launched before the year's end.

Mayor Borissov urged the President to speak up if he is aware of any wrongdoings involved in the Sofia waste issue.

In conclusion, he said that there are far more important things than the Sofia waste plant for the President to comment, including the absorption of EU funds and the unbuilt motorways.

Source: BTA; Photo: BGNES