Over 60 million leva for the construction and renovation of kindergartens are about to be lost, said the chairman of the GERB-SDF group in the Sofia Municipal Council (SOC) Anton Hekimyan at a briefing in the Council. The municipal councilors expressed their condolences to those who died in the disco in Kochani in the Republic of North Macedonia and expressed their sympathy for the grief of their relatives and friends.
Hekimyan emphasized that the Ministry of Education has provided data on the risk of loss of funds under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, according to which there is a high risk of loss of funds for many of the projects. Hekimyan warned of a potential danger that the projects may not be implemented at all. "This is about a complete lack of capacity on the part of the Sofia mayor and his team. Over 60 million BGN are about to be lost due to Vasil Terziev's inability to manage the processes in this municipality," the municipal councilor said.
This concerns the 50th school "Vasil Levski", the 142nd school "Veselin Hanchev", the 73rd secondary school "Vladislav Gramatik", as well as kindergartens in "Razsadnika", "Krasna Polyana", "Poduyane", "Krasno Selo" and "Vrabnitsa", informed Anton Hekimyan. He said that he was puzzled by the interviews that the mayor of Sofia gives and misleads people by saying that schools and kindergartens are a priority. I do not see how they can justify their inaction. This is a betrayal of the citizens, said Hekimyan.
Diyan Stamatov also expressed his concern about the serious lag in all activities of the Sofia Municipality with the funds under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan. Tens of millions are about to be irretrievably lost for the construction and expansion of three schools and eight kindergartens, said Stamatov. The negative impact of this lag is recognized by the Sofia Mayor's Administration, especially for the schools, and they will most likely not be able to be built with European funds, but with municipal money, added the municipal councilor. According to him, the lag is so dramatic that by the end of June 2026 most likely, only two kindergartens will be a reality, and the remaining six kindergartens and three schools will not be financed with the funds provided under the Recovery Plan.
Today, an extraordinary meeting of the Education Committee of the Sofia Municipal Council is being held, at which the topic of the risk of losing funds for the construction and renovation of schools and kindergartens under the Recovery Plan is being discussed.