Bondholders of BDZ began selling real estates of the company Arrears of the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) have already led to the first sale of a building of the transport holding, shows the Register of public sales of the Chamber of Private Enforcement Agents. The offer is for the administrative building of the Transport Police, which is owned by BDZ Holding. The Police is no longer housed there and the property is uninhabited. The procedure is triggered by the creditors under the second bond issue of BDZ, in which there are arrears of years and they cannot collect their claims. The sale will begin on January 12 and will last a month, as the initial tender price is BGN 2.732 million. So far, because of late payments to creditors, only wagons were being sold. Now, however, launches the sales of real estate, as this will hardly be the only sale of a building owned by the holding.
Source: Capital (12.01.2016)

Bulgarian Trasnport Minister Halts Public Tenders for Port, Railway Infrastructure Bulgarian Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski has ordered the suspension of public procurement procedures for the construction of port and railway infrastructure. The halted tenders concern the Bulgarian Ports Infrastructure Company and the National Railway Infrastructure Company. Among the halted procedures is the BGN 6 M tender for the construction of WiFi network on the territory of the ports in Varna and Burgas. No contractor has yet been selected for the construction of the WiFi network and the tender will be reviewed once again, daily Sega informs. Several tenders concerning the railway sector have also been cancelled, including a procedure for the purchase of rails. The suspension of the tenders has been justified with the need for optimisation of the financial resources of the state company. The decision of Moskovski comes after Prime Minister Boyko Borisov ordered all ministers to review the public tenders concerning their ministries and state companies. This is the latest in a series of public tenders which have been halted for suspected irregularities and lack of transparency in the selection procedure.
Source: Monitor (17.03.2016)

Bulgarian Cabinet Allocates BGN 208 M to Vital Railway Projects At its regular meeting on Wednesday, the Bulgarian government approved the allocation of up to BGN 208 M for the completion of ten vital railway projects. The funds will be transferred from the central budget to that of the transport ministry, the government's press service informs. The funds will be allocated to projects which are being implemented under the Transport Operational Programme for the 2007-2013 programme period. Among them are projects concerning the three main railway routes, namely Septemvri-Plovdiv, Plovdiv-Burgas and Parvomay-Svilengrad. The funds will be provided as temporary interest-free financial aid, which is subject to reimbursement to the National Railway Infrastructure Company in its capacity as beneficiary under the operational programme.
Source: 24 chasa (24.03.2016)

the national budget continues to pour money into failed project". The government decided to provide 208 million leva to the state railway infrastructure company and another 88,000 leva for the non-existend Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline. "This is yet another tranche for the maintenance of international companies set up to build several energy mastodons: the Belene N-plant, the Nabuko oil pipeline and the South Stream gas pipeline. All of them failed but as the project companies have not been legally dissolved, they continue to spend money for their upkeep, including hefty wages to CEOs," the story says.
Source: Sega (24.03.2016)

Bulgaria’s railway infrastructure company employees to be awarded energy efficiency certificates Management of Bulgaria’s National Railway Infrastructure Company (NRIC) is expected to hold Monday a press conference on a project themed Norwegian Experience for Sustainable Energy Sector and Environment in Bulgaria – Expanding the Administrative Capacity of Bulgarian State and Local Authorities in the Field, the NRIC press centre announced. The event will take place at 10:00 a.m. at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) in the capital Sofia. The Norwegian Experience for Sustainable Energy Sector and Environment in Bulgaria – Expanding the Administrative Capacity of Bulgarian State and Local Authorities in the Field project was ranked first by the Ministry of Energy among 30 other project proposals in the field of energy. The experience of Bulgarian experts and their Norwegian colleagues from the GK Norge company, which is a leader in the realisation of ecology projects in Scandinavia, mainly contributed to this success. Professional certificates for the acquisition of knowledge and skills in the field of energy efficiency will be awarded to NRIC employees at the BAS head office on Monday.
Source: Agency Focus (12.04.2016)

Bulgaria's Trace Group signs 2.8 mln euro railway upgrade deal Bulgarian construction company Trace Group Hold has signed a deal for the upgrade of a total 7.9 km railway lines with a worth of BGN 5.5 million, VAT excluded. The project is financed by the state-owned National Railway Infrastructure Company (NRIC), Trace said in a bourse filing. The upgrade of the railway lines, located in the region of Pernik, western Bulgaria, is to be completed within five months. The shares of blue chip Trace traded at BGN 4.95 on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange as at 13:53 local time on Thursday, up 0.2% from Wednesday's close, while the blue chip SOFIX index was up 1.3% by the same time. Trace Group Hold's activities include rehabilitation, reconstruction and construction of roads, highways, airports, underground stations and underground railways, ground railroads and facilities, urban infrastructure and road marking.
Source: investor.bg (22.07.2016)

NRIC commissioned another contract for over BGN 28 million to Vodstroy 98 National Company Railway Infrastructure (NRIC) commissioned another contract to Vodstroy 98. The latest order is worth BGN 28.5 million with VAT and was assigned to the incorporation ETC Technology composed of construction companies Vodstroy 98, Hydrostroy, Balkantel and Bonety, says the Public Procurement Register. It's about "electrification of the 83rd railway Simeonovgrad - Nova Zagora." With this contract, the amount provided by the state company to ETC Technology from 2013 onwards exceeds BGN 100 million. The other two selected for such activities associations have little commissioned. Until three months ago Vodstroy 98 was linked to MP Delyan Peevski and in 3-4 years it was assigned contracts for over BGN 800 million. In June the company was sold to Hydrostroy with majority owner Veliko Zhelev. In addition to ETC Technology both companies partnered before the merger in the incorporation that built the North speed tangent.
Source: Capital (14.09.2016)

NRIC award a contract for BGN 63 million of Trace Group Hold The formed union between Trace Group Hold, Infrastructure Construction and RVP Ilientsi won a tender for BGN 63 million by the National Company Railway Infrastructure for the rehabilitation of the railway line, part of the line Plovdiv - Burgas. The rehabilitation of the stretch Skutare-Orizovo, which is 26 kilometers long, should be completed within three years. The project is funded by the first phase of the Operational Programme "Transport" in which allocations were mainly for the repair of the railway line between Plovdiv and Burgas.
Source: Capital (09.12.2016)