October 4 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's transport ministry said on Thursday that the tie-up comprising China's HNA Group and Dutch-registered Plovdiv Airport Invest, which won a tender for a contract to run Plovdiv Airport, has informed the ministry it will not sign the concession agreement.
Bulgaria's minister of transport Rossen Zhelyazkov will propose to the government to cancel the procedure for awarding the 35-year concession contract, as it has not been carried out in accordance to the recently adopted changes to Bulgaria's concession law, the transport ministry said in a statement.
The consortium was ranked first in the concession tender as it pledged to invest 79.1 million euro ($91.1 million) in the airport, and pay an annual concession fee of 600,000 levs plus 6% of all net income from the operation of Plovdiv Airport.
The second-ranked offer came from a tie-up comprising Bulgaria's Trakia Economic Zone and local company PIMK, which offered to invest 65.5 million euro and pay each year 120,000 levs plus 6% of all net income generated from the airport's operation.
The government will now make a new analysis regarding the concession agreement and will make sure the documentation for the procedure is drafted in line with the new legal framework.
($ = 0.8681 euro)