Cleaning riverbeds as a preventive measure against flooding is the responsibility of the state, and municipalities do not have the budget for this. They rely on funds from the national budget, explained the National Association of Municipalities. The association has held talks with Finance Minister Assen Vassilev to allocate funds for cleaning riverbeds in this year's budget.

The municipalities are demanding that a national committee be set up to draw up criteria for preventive measures for municipalities so that they can prepare their projects and receive state funding, because prevention is cheaper than dealing with the consequences.

It takes municipalities between eight months and three years to agree on riverbed clean-up projects. An example of this is Veliko Tarnovo, where one tenth of the 24 projects after the 2014 floods have so far been implemented.