Sofia’s real problems are swept under the carpet –

/ world today news/ The biggest flaw in the administration of the capital’s mayor, Yordanka Fandakova, is that she follows the policy of GERB. This was stated by the chairman of the Municipal Group of the BSP, Milka Hristova.

“Sofia’s policy – as the capital, largely repeats the national model that GERB does, namely the construction of large infrastructure facilities, ribbon-cutting and grand openings. However, the problems of the little man and of Sofia, which has a different face, are not solved The Metropolitan Municipality (SO) and the mayor should turn to the other Sofia,” Hristova believes. However, she also pointed out the pluses in Yordanka Fandakova’s work, which are that she continued the work on the subway, went to solve the problem with the garbage plant, as well as some large infrastructure objects. “With a budget of BGN 1.5 billion, any mayor should have some positive results,” Hristova believes. She pointed out that for another year, the priorities proposed in the budget of the Council of Ministers are for the development of transport infrastructure and education, solving the problem of places in kindergartens and nurseries, and developing the municipal economy. The claims that the BSP has towards them are that they are repeated again in the budget plan. “When a budget sets a certain policy as a priority, it should resolve it within one mandate or two at most,” said Hristova. She recalled that for several years in a row the budget of the Council of Ministers was about 1.5 billion. BGN and, despite these solid funds, comparable to the budget of several ministries combined, are not spent in the best possible way. “This led to the development of Sofia on two tracks. Just as Bulgaria was divided into a developing south and a lagging north, so Sofia was divided into two – the Sofia of the yellow tiles and the other Sofia, the Sofia of the residential complexes and the Sofia of the suburbs “, the chairman of the group of the left in the Metropolitan Municipal Council (SOC) expressed his opinion. She is adamant that the time has come for the CO to turn specifically to the person of this Sofia. According to her, the money of the citizens of Sofia should be directed to the more extreme regions as a priority, since the tax revenues and fees that these citizens also pay are accumulated in the budget.

“Yes, the center of Sofia is cleaner, cozier, more orderly. However, every single citizen knows the condition of the large residential districts in Sofia. The street infrastructure, with few exceptions, has not been repaired for the last 10-15 years Potholes are a common phenomenon, neglected children’s areas, unmaintained playgrounds and an unwelcoming environment,” Hristova pointed out. She emphasized the thesis that the goal of a local policy is to make the city comfortable to live in, but not only in the representative – central part, but everywhere where Sofians live and raise their children. “Another priority that has been neglected in the budget for another year is the social services that the municipality must provide and maintain. There are not enough funds allocated for municipal health care. The many medical facilities have led to the fact that the capital’s hospitals, for the most part, have financial problems. The hospital does not address these problems, with the exception of a few municipal hospitals, the remaining medical facilities have outdated buildings and equipment that does not meet modern requirements,” says Hristova. According to her, as many funds are allocated for the capital’s municipal health care as were allocated for the repair of the Lion Bridge intersection. An intersection cannot be put on the scale with the funds allocated for municipal health care, Hristova is categorical. “SO is indebted to the citizens also in terms of sports infrastructure. Sofia does not have sports areas, especially in the peripheral areas. We take into account the stagnant lifestyle that our children lead, and fitness centers have become the only place where they could do sports This should not be the policy in sports. Sports halls are not built, except for “Arena Armeets”, and the BSP does not approve of the lack of social priorities in the municipality’s budget. “Social policy is what makes the watershed between the group of BSP municipal councilors and that of the ruling majority. Asphalt cannot be placed before people’s interests. Infrastructural sites – yes, metro – yes, but in no case can we agree that a few infrastructure sites can be a priority for years and neglect solving all the other problems of the people of Sofia”, believes the chairman of the group of the left in the municipality.

Milka Hristova also commented on the chronic problem, in her opinion, of the lack of places in kindergartens and nurseries. According to her, there are insufficient funds allocated for this purpose in this year’s budget. The CO is obliged to solve this problem, she said. Another prominent problem is the stray dogs that continue to harass the residents of the capital. “Problems are solved piecemeal and only when they become so painful and an incident occurs that cannot be swept under the carpet and becomes the focus of public opinion. The tragic events of a few years ago brought the solution to the problem of street dogs to the surface “To some extent, the number of dogs in the center of Sofia has decreased, but the problem has not been solved,” Hristova pointed out. According to her, there is no legal basis to solve the problem with dogs, as they are caught, dewormed, castrated and released back into the street. “A neutered dog does not become better or less aggressive. This issue should be constantly brought to the attention of the SO, as you will meet a baby carriage less often than you will meet a stray dog,” stated Hristova. According to her, however, the neglect of the problems in the municipality does not stop there. Such are the problems with street infrastructure, lighting and security, which also leads to the situation with some Sofia subways, which seem to have come out of a horror movie. Hristova revealed that in the 2015 budget it is planned to repair only the Pliska underpass, those along “Botevgradsko shose” and around the National Park. Lighting in the outer neighborhoods is also a chronic problem that cannot be solved with the funds from the budget, she said, pointing out that so far video surveillance is only available around schools, kindergartens and parks in the center. It is clear from this that the outskirts of Sofia are not a priority in the 2015 budget.

“SOS has become to a large extent a projection of the municipal administration. We consider important issues, but not those that are of essential importance and that formulate local policies for the management of the city. In all this pettiness it is very convenient to hide the essential issues” , says Hristova. For example, she pointed out that during the 3 years of Fandakova’s mandate, 5 regional mayors were replaced. Every one of those shifts was dictated by an offense. The last one is with the mayor of the “Slatina” district, Antoaneta Apostolova from GERB. “For the citizens of Sofia, the reasons for the systematic failure of public procurements, which also lead to the failure in the implementation of large projects for Sofia, remain hidden. This means a lack of management competence and adjusted results or a predetermined winner, which is the scariest thing.” she said. Hristova also commented that the Company leases out the inconvenient activities to other companies, such as “Stolichen Grad Transport”, “Sofiiska Voda”. In this way, the leadership of the CO is automatically cleared of those activities that would lead to public dissatisfaction. We should not forget the fact about the obligations of “Toplofikatsia-Sofia” to BEH, which are startling – about 500 mln. BGN, apart from that, the company also has about BGN 90 million. BGN, which were in an account at KTB. “Why did it come to this, why did the money of the people of Sofia end up in KTB by the management of GERB? BSP believes that the condition of “Toplofikatsia-Sofia” is due to the bad management. What led to the fact that for more than 10 years the company has not been sought its receivables from the customers who did not pay their bills”, asked Hristova, who insists on getting answers from the capital management as well.

Little by little, the local elections in the autumn are knocking on the door of the Council of Ministers and, according to Hristova, this cannot help but affect the work of the Council of Ministers, as shown by the previous practice. Despite the statements in the hall of the local parliament that politics will not interfere with the work of the municipality, Hristova points out that the way the municipal budget is designed and the first steps that the municipality declared at the beginning of the year makes her think that PR -the shares will not run away this time either. “We are witnessing the big campaign for the renovation of the panel buildings, the strange facts surrounding it and the BGN 2 billion that are being promised. This is a rather crudely veiled and manipulated way to buy the vote of the people of Sofia. Such a way is inadmissible and is fueled people have unrealistic expectations, as there is no clarity about the choice and method of the technical survey. that a 50% savings in heat energy will be realized, which is ridiculous. A large part of us have renovated homes, but they did not realize such savings,” commented Hristova.

She also announced that the procedure for selecting the profile of a candidate for mayor of Sofia from the BSP is already underway. There are various ideas on how to establish it, one of which is the creation of a sociological survey with a much wider scope among Sofians. The person will become clear after the city conference of BSP. “Our candidate must be recognizable among Sofians, have impeccable professional competence and moral standing. We will offer the best possible,” she vowed. Hristova admitted that the reason why the BSP did not win elections in Sofia was rooted in the social status and political biases of the citizens. “Therefore, however, the BSP cadres from the City Organization are also to blame, who failed to impose enough winning candidates and failed to propose alternative social policies. When the BSP succeeds in showing the other Sofia, the other path for development and the people who can to realize this time, it will find its constituents who will lead it to better results, she concluded.