Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Boris Bonev: Sofia Municipality is to buy street lights at prices that are much higher than the current market price

| updated on 1/30/22 2:00 PM
Boris Bonev
Photo: BGNES-archive

Sofia Municipality is preparing to buy street lights at prices which are between 3 and 77 times higher than the market price, Municipal Councilor Boris Bonev said for bTV. 

An investigation carried out by Save Sofia non-governmental organization has found large discrepancies between the prices of the two companies that won a tender worth EUR 37.3 million. "In the northern part of Sofia, a street lamp will cost EUR 2,943, whereas in the southern part of the city the same lamp will cost EUR 812", said Boris Bonev. "Our team made an experiment - we chose five items from the public procurement and paid a total of EUR 71.45, while Sofia Municipality pays EUR 465.42 for them",  the municipal councilor further said. 

Bulgaria’s Premier Kiril Petkov announced on Facebook that he would order an inspection of the public procurement. “When a street lamp on one side of the street costs EUR 812 and the same street lamp on the other side of the street costs EUR 2,943, then we really need an Anticorruption Commission with investigative function as soon as possible”, Premier Petkov further wrote.

Meanwhile, it became clear that by order of Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova, internal auditors at Sofia Municipality will examine the procedures for selecting contractors for repair and construction of street lighting.





Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Strike in Belgium blocks flights between Sofia and Brussels

Due to force majeure and a planned national holiday on Tuesday, flights FB 407/408 on the Sofia – Brussels – Sofia route have to be cancelled at Brussels Airport. Bulgaria Air announced this on its Facebook page, citing an official statement issued by..

published on 10/14/25 11:22 AM

Bulgaria's LB Bulgaricum and Japan's Meiji to open joint laboratory to study traditional Bulgarian yoghurt

A joint research laboratory of LB Bulgaricum and the Japanese company Meiji will be opened in the first half of 2026 . It will develop new products and study the benefits of traditional Bulgarian yogurt. This was announced after the Minister of Economy..

published on 10/14/25 11:19 AM

North Macedonia urged to abide by EU commitments

Candidates for EU membership must abide by the criteria and conditions they have agreed to themselves . This was stated by Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev after a meeting in Sofia with his German counterpart Johann Wadephul, BGNES..

published on 10/14/25 11:14 AM