US energy giant AES is going to launch its Bulgarian thermal power plant AES Galabovo by the end of April, after a delay of several months, but only with a part of its total capacity.
AES Galabovo, formerly Bulgaria's state-owned Maritsa East 1 TPP, is a 670-MW thermal plant in which AES has invested some EUR 1.3 B. AES Galabovo is of strategic importance for the Bulgarian economy; it is the first major power plant to be built in Bulgaria in the past 20 years.
Only 420 MW of the total...
Bulgaria can expects hundreds of thousands more Russian tourists than it welcomed in 2010 as the unrest in top Mediterranean destinations such as Tunisia and Egypt will redirect their summer holidays.
This is the forecast of RATA News, the daily online paper of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry in an article entitled "Bulgaria Awaited Its Moment in the Sun".
The paper cites Bulgarian tour operators as saying that the Russian tourists should not expect much in terms of special offers...
Bulgaria's State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) has decided to increase the natural gas price for the second quarter of 2011 by 4.47%.
DKEVR's final decision coincides with its earlier proposal that the marginal cost for Q2 should be BGN 532.14 per 1000 cubic meters value-added tax (VAT) excluded.
According to the watchdog's head, Angel Semerdzhiev, the lack of other reserves made it impossible to have a smaller increase. He added that the hike will not affect the...
The space of offering in shopping malls in Bulgaria grew by 475% in 2010 year-on-year, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report announced by its local partner Forton International.
At the same time, the Cushman & Wakefield analysis points out that in 2010 the development of new commercial space centers in Europe saw its steepest decline since 1983.
Thus, Bulgaria is ranked in the top 5 in Europe on the amount of new commercial space in 2010 after Russia, Turkey, Poland, and Italy.
A...
Bulgarian and Russian state companies have rushed for a last-ditch effort in the negotiations for the fate of the Belene nuclear power project on March 31, the day when their previous agreement expires.
Representatives of Bulgaria's National Electric Company NEK and Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom held talks behind closed doors, the NEK press service announced Thursday.
The last-minute negotiations continue late into the night on Thursday. They are expected to hammer out a new...
Sofia Municipality intends to start talks with Bulgaria's Economy Ministry in order to acquire the state minority stake in CEZ Electrorazpredelenie, the power utility supplying electricity to Sofia and Western Bulgaria.
The talks will be part of Sofia Municipality's latest brainchild to form a holding for communal services, announced Thursday Andrey Ivanov, chair of the Sofia City Council.
The potential Sofia Municipality communal holding would include the government 34% stake in CEZ as...
The privatization deal for Bulgaria's state cigarette-maker Bulgartabac will be completed in 3 weeks, according to a senior government official.
Emil Karanikolov, head of Bulgaria's Agency for Privatization and Post-Privatization Control told the Bulgarian National Radio Wednesday that the deal is close to being finalized.
"We can't say that the main thing in this privatization deal will be the price. If that was the case, I think that Bulgartabac would have been privatized a long time...
Bulgaria's Environment Ministry has given the Trans-Balkan Pipeline company two more months to complete its report on the environmental impact of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline.
The environmental impact report of the propose Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline was tabled to the Bulgarian government in late February, and the Cabinet was supposed to make a decision on whether the pipeline will be built or not by March 31.
Speaking on Wednesday, however, Bulgarian Environment...
Bulgaria's hunting tourism is enjoying growing local and international interest, according to participants in the 17th annual "Nature, Hunting, Fishing" Expo in the city of Plovdiv.
A total of 3 992 foreign nationals and 3 761 Bulgarians had hunting tourism trips in Bulgaria in 2010, according to data of the State Forestry Agency, as cited by BTA.
The group hunt of wild pigs is the most sought after hunting tourism attraction in Bulgaria, the data indicates.
The foreign nationals who...
Bulgaria's government is going to sell its 7.58% share of the Kempinski Hotel Zografski, one of the five-star hotels in Sofia.
The state has already included its minority stake in the Zografski AD firm, which owns the Kempinski hotel in Sofia, in the State Consolidation Company created in 2010 to handle the privatization of state minority shares in various businesses, according to a report of the 24 Chasa daily.
The total of 125 315 shares have a nominal value of BGN 1, and are owned by...
Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has surprised the media and the public by announcing a new idea for the location of a new national stadium to replace the Vasil Levski Stadium in downtown Sofia.
According to Borisov, the latest idea for a new location is the Nadezhda ("Hope") quarter in the northern suburbs of the capital, near or on the spot of the currently existing stadium of FC Lokomotiv Sofia.
"We are now considering the options for Nadezhda, even for the Lokomotiv stadium, to...
Jordan's Minister of Industry and Trade Hani El-Mulki has invited Bulgarian businesses to help the reconstruction of the Iraqi economy together with Jordanian companies.
El-Mulki met with Bulgaria's Deputy Minister of Economy Evgeni Angelov during a visit of a Bulgarian delegation in Amman. Angelov invited Jordan's Minister of Industry and Trade to visit Bulgaria.
According to him and El-Mulki, there are good conditions for expanded presence of Bulgarian engineering companies in Jordan's...
The supermarket chains "Piccadilly" and "Lidl" have opened new stores in the country, the companies announce.
The German "Lidl" entered for the first time the Black Sea city of Burgas by opening three stores at once and replacing the facilities of the "Plus" chain, which were purchased by Lidl.
Piccadilly opened its 5th supermarket in Sofia, replacing the "Elemag" store on "Kozyak" street. The company also has 10 smaller stores in the capital known as "Piccadilly Express."
"Lidl" now...
The Bulgarian government's decision to join the newly set-up European Stability Mechanism, the permanent euro zone bailout fund, has come under fierce criticism by respected local experts.
"Bulgaria will have to provide EUR 6.1 B in guarantees under the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) should the need for saving another defaulted eurozone member states arise after the scheme becomes operational as of 2013," Georgi Angelov, Senior Economist with the Open Society Institute – Sofia, argued...
The construction of the second line of the Sofia Metro is two months ahead of schedule, and will most likely be launched in June 2012, according to eager representatives of the Bulgarian authorities.
Bulgaria Prime Minister Boyko Borisov together with Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov, and EU Funds Minister Tomislav Donchev inspected Monday the construction of the metro at the Lavov Most ("Lions' Bridge") station with much fanfare; the section in question is...
A leading Italian construction company CMC di Ravenna has been selected by the Bulgarian government to build Lot 1 of the Maritsa Highway leading up to the border with Turkey.
Cooperativa Muratori e Cementisti – or CMC di Ravenna – has offered the best price out of seven eligible offers. A total of 12 companies took part in the tender for the construction of Lot 1 of the Maritsa Highway but the Bulgarian government eliminated five of them for not meeting the requirements.
The price...
Within a month Bulgaria will start exporting chicken meat to Jordan, said Yordan Voynov, head of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency.
He is part of the official Bulgarian delegation to Jordan, led by Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov.
"The export will initially start with about 100 tons per month," Voynov said.
According to Naydenov, the import of fruits and vegetables from Jordan will continue, but their quality will have to be proven through laboratory tests.
His statement was...
Bulgaria's Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov, is leaving Friday on an official visit to Jordan.
The visit will conclude on March 29 and is on the invitation of the Jordanian Agriculture Ministry.
Naydenov and the Bulgarian delegation will participate in a forum of Jordanian and Bulgarian companies from the farming, forestry, hunting, food manufacturing, and wood industries. The Minister will meet representatives of the Association of the Growers and Exporters of Vegetables and will...
Main boulevards in the Bulgarian capital will undergo active repair works, the Sofia Deputy Mayor for Transport, Lyubomir Hristov, said Friday.
In his words, by the end of April, pavement renewal has to be competed on the Alexander Malinov Blvd, Tsarigradsko Shose, Bulgaria Blvd and Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd.
The Sofia Municipality has provided BGN 27 M for ongoing repairs of streets and boulevards.
"Ten days ago we launched the program for implementation of the ongoing repair works of...
Bulgaria's center-right GERB party Cabinet plans to raise BGN 450 M from privatization of fully or partly state-owned companies in 2011, according to Emil Karanikolov, head of the Privatization Agency.
The companies on the table include a couple of "giants" – cigarette-maker Bulgartabac, Bulgaria's largest military plant VMZ Sopot, and construction company Technoexportstroy – as well as some smaller companies and state minority stakes in power utilities.
The government will most...
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