/ world today news/ The fog surrounding the Sofia airport concession is not lifting, because the fraud is probably deepening. At its meeting on April 7, the Government accepted the proposal of the Sofia Airport concessionaire to amend the concession contract and made a counter-proposal for its amendment. The public information about this decision and the arguments of Mr. Zhelyazkov show either incompetence or again an attempt to mislead the public. Why:
Fact one: Are the members of the Council of Ministers and Mr. Zhelyazkov aware that there is a concept in the economy “Time value of money“. The time value of money is related to the concepts of inflation and purchasing power. Stime value of money indicates that money available now is worth more than the same amount in the future.
With the decision of the ICJ that” The amendment of the concession contract provides for the postponement of the payment of the annual concession fees for the first ten years of the concession term, for the last ten years of the concession term.” the state is damaged by at least 100 million euros, due to the factors listed above. And the investor promises an increase in investments by only 16 million euros.
The compensation is a fact and the liability is documented, because there is no addition in the decision that the amounts due will be indexed with inflation and the purchasing power factor. According to folk wisdom, a “Horse for a hen” is obtained.
Fact two: Nowhere in the concession agreement is there an interpretation of the concept of “economic balance”. This is another loophole to benefit the concessionaire, because no financial-economic model has been attached to the concession contract, on the basis of which the revenues and losses for each party to the contract can be reasonably calculated.
Fact three: Why this counter-proposal of the MC is not published for public discussion, but is accepted “in the dark”. How do members of the Council of Ministers agree with a report by Mr. Zhelyazkov, in which there are no calculations (impact assessment) of what the benefit will be for the state, only statements. For the concessionaire, it is clear that he is in profit.
Fact four: Why is the request to the European Commission and its response regarding the interpretation of whether the deferment of the concession fee payment is not state aid not uploaded on the page of the Ministry of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications?
Fact five: Why did Mr. Zhelyazkov not respond to the open letter to him, in which there are still many open questions about the effectiveness of the Sofia Airport concession (see as:
60% for international lines, with 15% for domestic lines, with 95% of the fees for Egypt and with almost 50% of the fees for the maintenance of the cabins on the other side – up to 173 euros in relation to your decision cited above, in which you wrote: “According to the participant’s forecast, the average airport charge is expected to fall by 15% in real terms in the pre-expansion period (2030) and to remain below -10% throughout the concession period compared to the level of charges in 2017.“ Is this as a bow to the concessionaire “Sof Connect” or at his insistence, resp. at the insistence of the Lenders? Are these better prices for citizens as you claim?
chooses to finance in full or to the extent that the Concessionaire has obtained financing for part of the additional Capital Expenditure) the remainder of the additional Capital Expenditure” it is not clear what costs the state will have to incur if requested by the concessionaire. For example:
account of the Concessionaire, which can also be seen from your decision No. RK No. 5 of 17.07.2019 to determine the concessionaire of the “Sofia Civil Airport for Public Use” – public state property;
of its powers to invest in the modernization and expansion of the capacity of the Air Navigation Infrastructure, improvement of the Air Navigation Service Equipment and the qualification of the workforce;
Fact Six: How should the statement “The currently operating state operator of Sofia Airport does not have the ability to make investments of a similar volume”? The treasury of the state is empty and it is more efficient to make private investments at higher interest rates compared to a government loan?
It is not clear what the final balance of benefits to the state from this concession will be.
It is too late to terminate the concession, due to an unfavorable contract for the State, except if it is proven that there is abuse of the economic balance and the presence of corruption data.
There are clearly many vested interests behind this concession, but they will become clear sooner or later. There will be a special day.
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