December 7 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's government said on Wednesday that it has decided to grant a concession to Holcim Bulgaria for the Marudnicite West sand and gravel deposit near Sofia for a duration of 35 years.
Holcim Bulgaria intends to invest over 2.6 million levs ($1.4 million/1.3 million euro) to ensure extraction and pre-production activities at the site for the duration of the concession, the cabinet said in a statement following its weekly session.
The company is expected to make more than 5 million levs in concession payments over the 35-year period, with half of that amount due to the Sofia municipality on account of the site's location.
The sand and gravel deposit is located between the villages of Negovan and Chepintsi on the northeastern outskirts of Sofia.
The government, however, declined to grant a concession to the building materials company for the eastern part of the Marudnicite deposit, on the grounds that the territory falls within plans for the development of municipal infrastructure.
Holcim Bulgaria is part of Switzerland-based global building materials and aggregates company Holcim. In 2020, its majority-owned division, Holcim Karierni Materiali, received a 15-year extension to its concession for the Negovan sand and gravel deposit, which was first signed in 2002 for for an 18-year period.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)