Wolf, the company whose concession contract to clean four districts in Bulgarian capital Sofia earlier this month, would continue to collect refuse from Ovcha Koupel, Lyulin, Vitosha and Triaditza neighbourhoods, a city hall official said on April 8, as quoted by zagrada.bg.

Rather than extend the contract, the two parties agreed to amend Wolf's concession on cleaning Mladost district to include the other four neighbourhoods, city hall secretary Rossen Zhelyazkov said.

The deal ends the dispute between the city hall and Novera, the holding company that owns Wolf and the other two two firms that clean Sofia, over the exact date on which the refuse concession for the four neighbourhoods expired. Novera said it was March 31, ten years after the deal was signed, while the city hall argued it was June, ten years from the date the contract was registered on its books.

Wolf's contract to clean Mladost expires on March 1 2009, giving the city hall enough time to prepare the terms of the tender to pick the next concessionaire.

Mayor Boiko Borissov has repeatedly criticised the three companies handling refuse collection in the city. The city hall is reportedly looking to draft the next tender criteria in such a way that would prevent Novera, a vehicle set up by private equity investor Equest, from being the sole bidder. Novera owns Wolf, Ditz and Chistota.

It was not immediately clear whether the city hall's decision to add an expired concession as an annex to another contract was strictly legal, zagrada.bg said.

Source: zagrada.bg
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