site.btaSofia Municipal Council Doubles Fee for Building Permit

The Sofia Municipal Council Thursday doubled the fee for building permits. According to municipal councilor Boris Bonev (Save Sofia) who submitted the proposal for the fee increase, this is the first major step towards stopping overdevelopment in Sofia.

Bonev noted that this report indexes fees for the first time since 2006, so that they reflect the actual administrative costs. The new fees are below 0.5% of the average market value per square meter of properties in Sofia, but the measure adds about BGN 30 million annually to the city’s budget, he added.

Bonev said the next step is to introduce legislative changes that would allow the creation of a special fund which would finance building streets and forcible purchases of land for green spaces, kindergartens, and schools.

Speaking to journalists, Bonev thanked GERB, the Socialist-led group, Blue Sofia, Vazrazhdane, There Is Such a People, newly independent Vanya Grigorova and other independent councilors for "their responsible attitude" and support of the reform.

Bonev expressed regret that his former partners from Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria, with whom they had worked for a long time on this report, chose not to back the fee increase "out of political stubbornness and pressure from Sofia’s mayor". “They served an outside interest,” he said.

The municipal councilors also approved another report submitted by Save Sofia related to the need to establish new rules for compensating customers of the Center for Urban Mobility who, due to force majeur, were unable to use their travel passes.