March 26 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's transport ministry said it has extended, for the fifth time, the deadline for submitting bids in its tender for awarding a 35-year concession contract to run Sofia international airport worth an estimated 3.9 billion euro ($4.4 billion).
The deadline was extended to April 11 from April 3 due to changes to the tender documentation, the transport ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Tendering for the contract was launched in July 2018 with October 22 set as the original deadline.
The concession fee will carry the highest wеight in the procedure for selecting a concessionaire, of 55%. The remaining 45% will depend on the submitted development plan, business plan, financing plan, general strategy, traffic estimates and capital expenditure.
The requirements for the potential candidates include having a net asset value of at least 200 million euro throughout the last three years and operating at least one international airport with an annual traffic of over 10 million passengers.
Sofia Airport welcomed 497,999 passengers in the first two months of 2019, up 5.2% year-on-year.
($ = 0.8856 euro)