An interdepartamental group has proposed to drop 36 state-owned enterprises from the no-privatisation list and to add a further 7. At the moment, the list of enterprises with no privatisation option consists of 130 companies owned by the various ministries. The proposal will have to be approved by the government and then put to a vote in parliament. The Privatisation Agency will determine the format and terms for the denationalisation of the earmarked corporations. According to information obtained by Dnevnik, the no-privatisation ban will be lifted from 8 companies controlled by the finance ministry, 5 run by the farming ministry, 2 run by the economy ministry, 11 run by the culture ministry, 8 run by the regional development ministry and one run by the youth and sports ministry. The finance ministry experts that sat on the interdepartamental group have proposed to delist all enterprises controlled by the ministry. These include the duty-free zones in Burgas, Vidin, Ruse, Plovdiv, Svilengrad and Varna, IT company Information Services and the Bank Consolidation Company. The only two enterprises on the list owned by the youth and sports ministry are Olimpica and the National Sports Base which includes a dozen attractive sports venues like national stadium Vasil Levski, the Yunak stadium, the Belmeken high-altitude training base and the Han Asparuh equestrian base. The regional development ministry is keen to dump all of its construction companies, including Technoexportstroy, Avtomagistrali, Metalni Konstrukcii Holding, Promishleno Stroitelstvo Holding and Montazhi. Technoexportstroy and Avtomagistrali are part of the Bulgarian-Portuguese consortium that has been awarded a no-bid concession contract to finish the construction and operate the Trakia motorway. Almost total secrecy shrouds that names of the 7 companies proposed to be included in the no-privatisation list. One of the certain additions is ADIS, the real estate company that manages properties leased to the diplomatic corps.
Source: Dnevnik (30.05.2007)