Mayors of Sofia and Silistra, Boiko Borissov and Ivo Andonov, singed a contract for the storage of 180 000 tons of baled refuse from Sofia at the Silistra refuse dump, Dnevnik daily reported.

According to the agreement, Sofia city hall would pay nearly 24 leva a ton for the storage of baled refuse at the Silistra refuse dump. All 180 000 tons of refuse would be transported to Silistra within half a year, with a maximum of 1000 tones to be transported a day.

The agreement would come into force after the municipal councils of the two cities would give their approval, which was scheduled for September 25, Dnevnik said.

The Cabinet promised to finance projects for to improve public services in Silistra, including financing the cleaning stations and sewer systems of the village of Sreburna, if the town would agree to the storage of the refuse.

Before Silistra agreed to store part of Sofia's refuse, the towns of Plovdiv, Karlovo, Gorna Malina, Sevlievo and Montana refused to help Sofia. Bulgaria's capital has to store 600 000 tons of baled refuse. If Sofia fails to resolve the problem by November 2008, the European Commission is expected to impose sanctions on Bulgaria for violation of the directive on storage of refuse.