A total of 101 million leva remain to be paid to developers, Regional Development and Public Works Minister Rosen Plevneliev said, emerging from a meeting with newly elected Chairman of the Chamber of Developers in Bulgaria, Svetoslav Glossov.

Plevneliev said that 147 million leva have been paid out to developers pursuant to the agreement signed with the Chamber late last year. Out of the total of 139 million leva to be paid via the Bulgarian Development Bank, 34 million have already been transferred and the documents for another 4 million leva are being processed.

Glossov said that in addition to these amounts, developers expect payments from municipalities totaling about 150 million leva. This money is mainly owed to small and medium-sized companies and the funds are critical for their survival, Glossov said, recalling that these companies make up nearly 90 per cent of the construction industry.

Glossov said he expects that about 1,500 construction companies will not confirm their registration in the Chamber in 2010, on the account of bankruptcies as well as due to the fact that many companies will suspend their activity because of the grim situation on the market. A total of 1,050 companies signed out of the register last year. In 2008 there were 5,279 companies on the Chamber's register.

Plevneliev said that the participants in the talks reached an agreement on joint inspections on major construction sites to be conducted by representatives the Ministry, the Chamber, the General Labour Inspectorate and the National Construction Supervision Directorate.

Source: BTA