site.btaEnergy Minister Stankov: Teams to Monitor Druzhba 2 Heating Repairs Next Week

Teams from the Ministry of Energy will monitor heating pipeline repairs in Sofia’s Druzhba 2 borough next week, Minister of Energy Zhecho Stankov said on Saturday in an appearance on Nova TV.

Stankov said he has already sent letters to the mayor and chair of Sofia Municipality and issued a special order to his team to be on site immediately next week, overseeing the works for a month or until the repairs are finished, with the goal of accelerating the process.

He said it is unacceptable to start repairs just before the heating season begins. Stankov added that a responsible district heating operator should procure and deliver all necessary parts during the heating season, allowing repairs to be completed between May 1 and October 1. He noted that starting work at the onset of the heating season, affecting over 120 buildings and tens of thousands of households, would leave many residents without hot water and heating, which he considered unacceptable.

Subscribers to Toplofikacia Sofia in Druzhba 2 will not lose heating supply for the entire repair period, according to a statement from the company on September 18. This followed information published on its website the previous day about large-scale repair works planned for Druzhba 2 between October 2 and December 30, 2025.

Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev announced on Friday the creation of a working group to prepare a thorough audit of Toplofikacia Sofia, following concerns that repairs in Druzhba 2 would disrupt heating for nearly 40,000 residents across 120 residential buildings. Terziev called for international experts to evaluate the company’s state and consider bringing in an experienced foreign operator and has requested a detailed repair schedule to avoid interruptions for local schools and kindergartens. Ombudsman Velislava Delcheva also referred the issue to Parliament’s Energy Committee after hundreds of residents complained about the planned 90-day outage.