Progress at last in the main tender process, but over budget on current work

Published: 6/1/2000

After recent complaints by flag carrier Balkan Airlines about the quality of Sofia Airport, the long expected tender process of the restructuring programme is moving ahead. What remains of the original $200m proposal for major restructuring is however, unclear. Petko Tabakov, Deputy Transport and Communications Minister, has said that 19 international consortiums have sent initial bids to participate in the construction of the new passenger terminal at Sofia Airport. Earlier reports indicated that this terminal was intended to handle 2.5m people a year, a marked increase on the 1.13m handled by the airport in 1997. Earlier plans for the reconstruction of the existing runway and the building of new one appear to be absent from reports of the announcement of the tender. The bids will be reviewed by a committee with candidates shortlisted by September 2000 for the submission of full tender bids to the ministry. The unspecified funding for the project will come from a number of sources including the European Investment Bank, the Kuwaiti Fund for Overseas Cooperation (or Arab Development as it has been called in earlier reports), the PHARE Program, the Netherlands and the airport itself. The airport is however, not without its problems in terms of reconstruction, with reports in the local press that the Transport and Communications Minister Antoni Slavinski has signed an order for the suspension of the construction of the airport's business terminal. In March of 1999 Bukgarian company Danlex won the tender for the repairs on a bid of 6.127m levs. Danlex, however, it appears had no experience of construction or repair of this type and quickly went over budget. A recent inspection of the site by the authorities found the project running at over twice the budgetted cost, but the work was of an acceptable standard according to Slavinski quoted in local newspaper Standart.

Article ID: 1830