The Government plans to seek an upfront payment of a concession fee from the winner of the concession in order to repay debt of Bulgarian State Railways company (BDZ), Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski announced.
The Bulgarian government approved a new draft Concessions Act. The draft remains to be adopted by the Bulgarian parliament.
Previously, on 17 May 2016, the Bulgarian government had approved the granting of a concession for the operation of Sofia airport. Bulgaria will award a concession on Sofia Airport for a period of 35 years, the government has decided. The bidder is expected to commit to an advance payment on the concession of approx EUR 290 million which shall be used for repaying the debt of the Bulgarian State Railways.
Overall, Bulgaria hopes to earn a net BGN 1.2 billion (EUR 600 million) from the concession over 35 years, minister Moskovski added.
The deadline to submit the concession offers should be the end of September.
The government hopes to have received clearance from the European Commission to use proceeds from the concession for repayment of huge debt of BDZ by the end of September.
At the end of this March, the debt of the Bulgarian State Railways totalled about BGN 470 million (EUR 235 million).
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