Sofia city hall will pay a record four million leva for the repair of a 2.3km stretch of Maria Luiza Boulevard, news website mediapool.bg reported on April 20.

The public procurement tender was called in February by the municipal company Metropoliten, which oversees the construction and manages Sofia's underground metro network. The stretch in question covers the length of the boulevard between Sofia's iconic Lions' Bridge and the overpass in Nadezhda borough.

According to the tender notice, offers were due on April 18 and were to be opened on the same day; the sole criterion for judging the bids was lowest price, but no winner has been announced yet.

The winner will have three months to complete the works, which should include the repair of the street, new pavements and a cycling alley running the entire 2.3km length of the stretch being repaired.

The repairs will have to be carried out without stopping traffic on one of Sofia's busiest boulevards, which links the city centre to the Nadezhda borough, according to the tender notice. However, part of the boulevard (between Lions' Bridge and Sofia's central train station) is already closed for traffic because of construction on Sofia's second metro line.

The price that Metropoliten will pay for the repairs is a record high, nearly half the average price (per kilometre) paid for the construction of new motorways, mediapool.bg said, but nowhere near as expensive as Sofia's ring road, where the cost of one kilometre ranges between 20 million leva and 25 million leva.