31 octobre 2007
Renovated Sofia's South Park Fountain Delights Visitors after 20-Year Break
30 October 2007, Tuesday
 The fountain, situated at the main entrance of Sofia's South Park started working on Tuesday after it was out of order for 20 years now. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency) | buy photo | |
The fountain, situated at the main entrance of Sofia's South Park started working on Tuesday after it was out of order for 20 years now.
The renovated facility has been opened by the re-elected mayor Boyko Borissov nad representatives of the investors, who sponsored the renovation.
About BGN 130,000 was invested in the project's realization, performed for almost two months.
The original architecture of the fountain has been kept as all the damaged parts, the installation, the nozzles and the pumps have been replaced.
Hydro isolation with area of 520 square meters and 170 square meters of stone tiling complete the modern appearance of the water facility.
The fountain is controlled through a computer system, which allows the jet rotation and lifting to 12 meters above the ground.
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=86989
24 octobre 2007
Overgas: Over 7,000 households use natural gas in Sofia
| 24 October 2007 | 09:07 | FOCUS News Agency |
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Sofia. The affiliated companies to the Overgas gas distributor have increased their natural gas sales by about 40% this year. The same tendency is noticed in the rest of gas distribution companies operating in the country, Overgas told the Focus News Agency. |
17 septembre 2007
Day of Sofia
| 17 September 2007 | 07:16 | FOCUS News Agency |
September 17 is public holiday of Bulgarian capital- Sofia. On this day, which is also a church celebration of martyrs Viara, Nadezhda, and Lyubov (the Bulgarian names also mean Faith, Hope and Love), we honor the centuries of history of the city, which bears a name of wisdom.
In 1992, in honour of the celebration of St. Sofia the Martyr, the Government chose September 17th as the Day of Sofia.
16 septembre 2007
Sofia Municipality prepares project for recultivation of Kremikovtsi polluted territory
| 16 September 2007 | 11:34 | FOCUS News Agency |
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Sofia. Sofia Municipality is prepared project for recultivation of the polluted territory from Kremikovtsi and Sofia’s North region, Sofia’s Mayor Boyko Borisov said at the opening of the international conference European City – City Planning and Architecture, Secure and Finance, FOCUS News Agency reporter announced. The project is in the amount of EUR 125 million. Sofia Municipality will apply for EU Commission programs with this project. According to Borisov most of part of Northern regions in Sofia are deserted and are ‘poisoned’ from steel-producing Kremikovtsi plant. This is the reason the municipality to take measures for recovering of this region in the capital, Borisov added. |
Old buildings give dignified appearance to Sofia: Architect Konstantin Peev
| 16 September 2007 | 10:15 | FOCUS News Agency |
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Sofia. Sofia’s center had the good fortune to avoid large construction interventions in contrast to the center of the town of Bucharest in the years of transactions. There about ¼ of old buildings in the town were razed to the ground in order to construction of new majestic buildings, canals, ramps and lakes. So in that aspect our capital has luck. The old buildings in Sofia give dignified appearance to the capital, manager of leading company for architecture, construction and restoration EKSA, Architect Konstantin Peev said in an interview to FOCUS News Agency. |
12 septembre 2007
TO THE EDITOR: Bulgaria's Borissov frustrates pet control
Despite Veterinary Act provisions, the system of dog registration in Sofia, under the control of the municipality, has been totally frustrated. Organised saving and returning of lost animals, reliable sheltering and rehoming of abandoned and “second-hand” pets, and early-age sterilisation of owned animals, are completely unknown. The usual practice includes free amateur breeding, uncontrolled trade in pups and a massive supply of secondhands. There is no data on the number of kept and neighbourhood dogs, and no official information on the movement of abandoned and lost animals. In this situation they are all in danger.
Nowadays in Sofia there are at least 30 000 owners of fertile bitches which are potential, unregistered breeders. Every year the better part of them are producing puppies, owing to the strange philosophy that every female “must give birth”. The dog population is increasing, immensely and unchecked.
During the rule of mayor Stefan Sofianski (1995-2005) the reported number of legally killed animals was about 10 000 a year. During this period, the official policy of the municipality was limited to partial collection of stray dogs and their euthanasia.
On December 18 2005, The Sunday Telegraph reported about the supply in London of cheap coats, imported from Bulgaria as “Korean wolf”, but obviously made from furs of bigger dogs like German shepherds or golden retrievers – the most popular breeds.
In fact, only a small amount of dogs, mostly of unknown origin, go to the shelters. While the re-homing of grown-up pets is totally disregarded, a portion of well-kept and bred dogs are passed from owner to owner till, in their prime, the dogs peculiarly somehow vanish.
Boiko Borissov, the incumbent mayor of Sofia, is a very popular and ambitious politician. But despite our attempts to contact him, and our proposals during the past two years, he has refused to discuss the most serious topics in this area, including the improvement of services, promoting pet sterilisation and rehoming, and registration of neighbourhood dogs.
Incredible as it may sound, in the past decade popular animal protection organisations have infiltrated Bulgarian society with the false concept of “No-Kill policy”, based not on the restriction of pet breeding and movement, but mostly on substituting euthanasia with sterilisation of unwanted animals.
In his election campaign in 2005, Mr Borissov made unrealistic promises to discontinue euthanasia, sterilisation of “all” stray dogs and their adoption.
He was the first politician to proclaim such intentions. Mayor Sofianski had played the role of the “bad guy” for 10 years, and mayor Borissov took the role of the “good guy”.
Publicly encouraged by the No-Kills, Mr Borissov has said on several occasions that there is an accepted new municipal policy to “decrease” overpopulation - by sterilisation and release of unwanted dogs. On July 13 2007, Bulgarian media quoted the mayor’s claims: “According to the most recent survey, the number of stray dogs has fallen to almost 11 000. In early 2006, their number was 20 000. The steep drop is the result of sterilisation of strays. In this way, after another two years, there wil be about 2000 animals remaining in the streets”.
On March 13 2007, Miroslav Naidenov, director of the Municipal Enterprise Ecobalance (Ekoravnovesie), send us a letter with official data concerning their activity during the period between September 2006 and February 2007: 2100 dogs captured, 2040 of these sterilised and returned to the streets, and about 60 killed.
Despite the new circumstances, the situation in Sofia remains the same as during the Sofianski era. Even after January 1 2007, when Bulgaia became a member of the EU, the movement of tens of thousands of animals in Sofia continues to be unrestricted and the population remained extremely unstable. New dogs continue to appear in the streets again and again. At the same time we have witnesed many cases of disappearance of stray, lost and second-hand animals. The set-up keeps the door wide open to possibilities of illicit farming of strays.
During 2006, two bills were drafted for the Animal Protection Act. The peculiarity of both drafts is the prohibition to kill healthy cats and dogs as a form to control population numbers. But at the same time there were no adequate measures provided to curb mass pet breeding, movement and population shift, i.e, No-Kill solutions.
Borissov was an active supporter of one of the Animal Protection drafts. On January 2 2007, Animal Programs sent EU institutions a letter on the shortcomings in both drafts. As a result, on January 10 2007, the EU Parliamentary Intergroup for the Welfare of Animals sent six identical letters to leading Bulgarian institutions involved in improving and enforcing the Law. One of the letters was addressed to Mr Borissov. The Intergroup highlighted the need for a way to guarantee humane pet control to be proposed. There was no reply to the letter.
On the contrary, on January 13 2007 the mayor became patron of “Zoo-Expo”. The No-Kills set up in Sofia a one-day campaign to support the uncompleted Animal Protection draft; and for the random adoption of dogs and cats by people. Most of the animals included were young and non-sterilised strays. On February 14 2007, the above-mentioned draft was introduced to the Bulgarian Parliament. We can see the intentions of Boiko Borissov to provide an ineffective Animal Protection Act, which will preserve the already existing population shift. On top of all that, the so well-played scheme of “Grooming and Collecting” unwanted animals from Sofia’s streets without fear of reprisal can spread throughout the country.
Emil Kuzmanov
The Animal Programs Foundation
Http://animalprograms.org
Sofia Hosts Forum over Security in Southeastern Europe
An international science conference over the security measures taken in Southeastern Europe is to be opened Tuesday in Bulgaria's capital city of Sofia.
The forum, which will continue until September 14, is held under the patronage of President Georgi Parvanov.
The event is to be officially opened by Disaster Management Minister Emel Etem.
Along with the conference, there will be presented the specialized exhibition "Protection and Security 2007".
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=85146
05 septembre 2007
Sofia Mayor Opens New Pedestrian Overbridge in Capital City
Sofia Mayor Boyko Borissov opened Wednesday a new pedestrian bridge in Mladost neighborhood in the capital city.
There are hydraulic lifts on both sides of the facility, in accordance with the new regulation of the boulevard the bridge is constructed over.
The modern facility, whose value is set at BGN 408 M, is covered with a total of 250 square meters transparent polycarbonate planes.
"Such bridges are to be built at other major crossroads in Sofia, as they would ease the traffic" Mayor Borissov said.
"Pedestrian overbridges will be constructed at a total of 12 places across the city, " the Deputy Mayor Velizar Stoylov added.
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=84961
Sofia City Hall Buys Minibuses for Disabled
Disabled persons in Bulgarian capital Sofia will have the option to move around the city using three minibuses equipped for the purpose starting from September 17.
The disabled can use them during the day if they make a request in advance on a charge-free number, and will be charged the same price as for a regular trip in Sofia's urban transportation network, BGN 0,7.
The three minibuses cost BGN 210 000 to buy and the city hall plans to add two more at a later date.
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=84946
31 août 2007
Sofia City Hall Fines Road Repair Firms
The Sofia city hall fined four firms that have repaired streets in the Bulgarian capital this summer a total BGN 150 500, mayor Boyko Borissov told reporters on Thursday.
The firm that repaired Tsagrigradsko Shosse, one of the key thoroughfares of the city, was fined BGN 125 000, after a city hall review found 14 sections, with an average length of 25 meters each, where the tarmac is slightly raised above the rest of the boulevard.
"The city has not paid a single penny for the repairs on Tsarigradsko Shosse, and we will not discharge the funds until the work is completed to our satisfaction," Borissov said.
If the firm fails to fix the botched sections within a month, the city hall will pay none of the BGN 750 000 for the repairs, he added.
The company could use the four-day weekend at the beginning of September, when Bulgaria celebrates Unification Day, to work on Tsarigradsko Shosse, otherwise it would have to carry out all repairs at night, according to Borissov.
The city hall also fined three more firms a total BGN 25 500 for delays in carrying out repairs on minor streets in the city.
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=84756