SOFIA (Bulgaria), November 24 (SeeNews) – A new waste recycling plant is expected to start operations in the Bulgarian capital Sofia by the end of 2015, the city mayor said on Monday.
The first stage of the project for an integrated waste management system in the city, including the construction of a waste depot and an installation for biological waste, has already been completed and construction of the plant itself has begun, Yordanka Fandakova told the state-run Bulgarian National Television.
Heavy rainfall in the summer delayed the excavation works but the project is now running according to schedule, Fandakova added.
The Sofia municipality signed last year a deal for the design and construction of the plant with a consortium made up of Greek companies Aktor and Helector, which placed the lowest bid, of 213.5 million levs ($135.3 million/109.2 million euro), for the contract.
At the time, municipal authorities said plant will process more than three quarters of Sofia’s waste and will produce refuse-derived fuel, which will be utilized by the city’s heating utility, Toplofikatsiya Sofia, cutting its consumption of natural gas by at least 10%.
(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)