November 22 (SeeNews) - Sofiyska Voda, the water utility company serving the Bulgarian capital Sofia, said on Tuesday it will spend 634 million levs ($332.8 million/324.2 million euro) on upgrades of water supply and waste water management infrastructure if its majority owner Veolia is granted a request for extension of its concession contract by eight years until 2034.
The total investment in Sofia's water services infrastructure will thus amount to 1.15 billion levs for the period between 2010 and 2034, with 53 million levs spent annually starting from 2022, Sofiyska Voda said in a statement.
Between 2010 and end-2021, Sofiyska Voda invested 512 million levs in the repair and maintenance of Sofia's water and wastewater infrastructure, including the construction of over 530 km of pipelines and the start of renewable energy generation at the Kubratovo water purification plant, which nowadays covers more than 85% of the company's energy needs.
Sofiyska Voda was established in October 2000 under a 25-year concession contract for the operation and maintenance of Sofia's water supply and sewerage system. France's Veolia Water became its majority owner in 2010. It owns 77.1% of the company's capital, while the Sofia municipality holds a stake of 22.9%.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)