Living in Stara Zagora during the summer heat is not one of the most pleasant experiences, and breathing is downright difficult. It’s not only due to the climate but also because the sidewalks and streets are covered in dried flowers and pollen from the linden trees—the pride of the citizens of Stara Zagora.
Once again, in the last ten years, citizens have to endure all the hardships of the excavated streets due to the replacement of 45 km of water supply and sewage networks.
The contractor for the project is not irrigating the areas where excavation work is being carried out, as they should. However, since this is not stipulated as part of their obligations in the contract, clouds of dust are wafting through the city.
At the same time, the daily bulletins on the quality of the atmospheric air from the Executive Agency for Environment do not report any deviations from the permissible norms of fine particulate matter—neither in Stara Zagora nor in other cities across the country.
The fact that the city is not being cleaned effectively is visibly apparent, although according to Margarita Georgieva, a chief expert in the Department of Ecology and Forests within the municipal administration, such an opinion is subjective and exaggerated, even untrue.
A bit of background:
In 2013, the municipality terminated its cleaning contract with the company “Nelson Chistota” and awarded this duty through negotiation to “Zauba” EAD.
A review in the information system APIS shows that the sole owner of the capital is “Wolf” AD, owned by businessman Rumen Gaytanski, known as “Valkan.”
In October 2016, the municipality signed a contract with “Green Partners – BCS.” In the company registered under the Law on Obligations and Contracts, “BCS – Hristo Nanev” holds a negligible 0.01% share, while the remaining shares are held by “Green Partners” AD, owned by Zdravko Andreyev, who is also the chairman of the board of directors of “Zauba.” The connection to Rumen Gaytanski—Valkan is evident and is confirmed by the Law on Measures Against Money Laundering, where the controversial businessman is listed as the actual owner of the company.
Last year, the mayor of Stara Zagora signed a new five-year contract with the aforementioned company. It participated in an electronic public procurement process under the Public Procurement Act (PPA) and eliminated the second participant—a large Austrian firm. This same scheme allowed the company to win the public procurement for waste collection in Sliven in 2020.
Thus, it has emerged that since 2013,
the cleanliness of Stara Zagora has been entrusted to businessman Rumen Gaytanski
and his companies.
The latest contract of the Municipality of Stara Zagora with “Green Partners – BCS” is valued at 48.8 million leva including VAT. The overall documentation for the public procurement, especially in the technical specifications, includes a detailed description of its scope and all requirements for its execution. It contains a list of the streets planned for mechanical cleaning. However, on some of these streets, workers from the company can be seen waving brooms while people hurry by. We asked Margarita Georgieva from the municipality
where in the 21st century the
“technology” of the broom is used,
which, aside from being ineffective, stirs up dust in the air?
And why, in recent months, have the streets not even been swept except for the square in front of the municipality and the area in front of several important institutions in the city? According to her response, the company employs 130 women from the Roma community, each responsible for an area of 5 decares.
In the public procurement, manual cleaning is primarily designated for the Green Zone due to the designated parking spaces on the streets. The parking of vehicles, especially after 6 PM when it is free, has hindered mechanical cleaning. Therefore, even though it was recently introduced, they have not assigned larger volumes to it, especially since the activity is underfunded. However, the fact that
the waste collection fee has not been increased in two years, and that the city supports the villages where this fee is very low, is not a problem for the citizens but rather a result of
the populist policies of the local authorities.
Because there are hardly any people who would refuse to pay more for the environment in which they live — for themselves and their children. A separate issue is how the amount is determined and how some businesses and households are unfairly burdened with a high fee.
It is entirely logical for the sums collected from parking meters and SMS payments, fine tickets, and all other sanctions in the Green Zone to be invested in measures to improve air quality and cleanliness in the city. However, it turns out that the 350,000 leva collected annually go towards maintaining the staff who carry out this activity, at least according to Tsanka Ganeva, the chief financier of the Stara Zagora municipality, speaking to “Za Istinata.”
When asked why in 11 years the mayor has not fulfilled his promise to build parking spaces in the city, she responded that surveys conducted at the beginning of Zhivko Todorov’s first term indicated that people were not inclined to use them. Due to the lack of parking, the entire traffic organization in the city was changed, and many streets were converted to one-way to create parking spaces on both sides. For several years now, the city has been suffocating from heavy traffic, congestion, and exhaust fumes. Stara Zagora is a city that can be easily traversed on foot, by bicycle, or via public transportation. Yet no one gets out of their car, even when their workplace is less than a kilometer from their home.
And again we come to the question of
the local authority’s policies
— what it should stimulate, what it should limit, and what it should sanction.
Because if there are parking spaces, people will be compelled to use them; otherwise, they will have to give up using their cars in the city. The streets will be unclogged, and then there will be no excuses like the claim that they are not being washed because the tankers cannot pass. Under the public procurement conditions with “Green Partners – BCS,” mechanized street washing for a total length of 166 km is planned. The issue is that in a check conducted by “Za Istinata” regarding how the company adheres to its schedules for this activity, we found no evidence of freshly washed streets as indicated. Margarita Georgieva is adamant that this is not possible since the municipality tracks the movement of the vehicles with GPS. The problem, however, is that, once again due to a lack of funds, it has been agreed that
the major central streets in Stara Zagora would be washed 10 times a year,
while the smaller streets would only be washed twice!?
At the same time, the company saves on winter maintenance funds, calculated at the highest rates in the contract. In the municipality, snow falls “once in a blue moon,” rarely lingering for more than a few days and sometimes icing over due to insufficient cleaning.
We were unable to ask Ivo Lalov, representative of “Green Partners – BKS” in Stara Zagora, why the city is so dirty and how the company controls the cleaning operations, as he politely declined to comment, stating that corporate policy does not allow him to discuss anything without the owner’s permission. Citizens, however, have the right to demand from local authorities the constitutionally guaranteed right to live in a clean environment and breathe clean air. This is true even when a mayor eagerly awaits the end of his third term, while his administration remains hidden and wonders who will come next.
