The Bulgarian capital city has voted for its development a record high budget of more than EUR 750 million. To compare – the second-largest city of Plovdiv looks like a pauper with its humble EUR 135 million.

Many Bulgarians, mostly from the countryside like to say that Sofia is not Bulgaria and vice versa. Thus those underline the differences between the capital and the rest of the country. Sofia is the center of political, administrative, economic, cultural, scientific and sport life of this country. This overconcentration and centralization have their financial dimensions as well. Some 30 percent of the GDP are produced in this city with over 1.5 million inhabitants, which means greater revenues for the municipality due to taxes and fees.

The huge budget of the capital is EUR 15 million higher than in 2014, even exceeding the overall defense budget of the state. Charismatic Mayor Yordanka Fandakova says that only a decade ago municipal investments were to the tune of EUR 30 million and now those are EUR 380 million or 13 times up. That can be seen and felt by both Sofia’s citizens and its guests from this country and abroad.

Sofia has never been too attractive in terms of any glorious history, impressive architecture or deserving tourist attractions. This image has been changing right in front of our eyes over the past few years and the city tends to get more and more modern.

The new budget of Sofia aims to continue this line of modernization and measures for easing the life of people here, despite the accusations of the political opposition at Sofia Municipal Council. It claims the focus of those efforts is downtown only at the expense of the periphery and suburbs.

Municipal elections are forthcoming in Bulgaria this year, i.e. new municipal council members and a new mayor will be elected. Current Mayor Yordanka Fandakova, who has taken the position since 2009, hasn’t decided yet whether she will be a candidate for one of the most important positions once again, though very few are the Sofianites who would say she hasn’t done a great job. This lack of definite decision, however, doesn’t interfere with the plans of the mayor for this year, envisaged in the new budget. Transport, ecology, education and city infrastructure are the priority sectors. Some 27 new buses have already been launched, out of 80 and those will replace the old transport vehicles of city transport. Another contract for 110 more buses was signed end-January with a loan from the European Investment Bank. Many trolleys have been replaced with new ones and also tram cars. The construction of a third metro line has started, the two now existing are being extended. Street lights will be renovated in accordance with the latest trends, about a dozen new kindergartens will open doors, major Sofia boulevards will be repaired and the waste treatment plant will finally begin work. This all happens without any increasing of taxes and fees, which might be due to the forthcoming elections, but this fact only raises the level of trust of citizens towards the generous management of the capital city.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev