A US military base might be set up near the village of Chubra in the region of Bourgas, Chubra mayor Georgi Kendov said.

The municipality was hoping that establishing the base would lead to the modernisation of infrastructure in the region, Dnevnik daily said.

Kendov said that the money to be earned from the base could be used for a polyclinic and daily emergency centre with ambulances.

NATO asked if the former buildings of a tank brigade in the town of Aitos could be turned into a reserve storage base. NATO planned to store here the equipment for one or two battalions, which would be based in the military bases of Novo Selo and Bezmer.

The US investment in the municipalities where military bases would be set up, would be nearly $200 million, Dnevnik said.

In late December 2007, at a public discussion, experts explained that the bases would remain Bulgarian, under Bulgarian flag and command. The villages near the bases would benefit from infrastructure development. The US planned charity for the social institutions in the region of the bases, Dnevnik said.

Sungulare mayor Georgi Kenov said that the bases were a possible way to solve some of the problems in the municipality, including unemployment.