Bulgarian Cabinet approves 500M leva equity injection for state firm
Bulgaria’s government approved on July 11 a 500 million leva (about 255.6 million euro) equity hike for the State Consolidation Company, an entity that is mainly used to sell state-owned assets.
The Cabinet gave no reason for the large equity injection, saying only that the money will come from the Economy Ministry, which is the sole owner of the company.
But in the same statement, the government said that it also approved expanding the company’s operations remit to include maintenance and repairs of reservoirs and dams owned by the government or local authorities. The statement did not explicitly state the equity injection would be used towards that end.
The only exception were dams that are part of concession contracts where the concessionaire is required to carry out maintenance and repair works themselves.
The cabinet statement said that the government also approved a list of all sites that have to undergo repairs or reconstruction, but gave no further details on the issue, such as the number or location of such sites.
In recent years, flooding caused by heavy rains have repeatedly raised questions about the state of Bulgaria’s aging water infrastructure, much of which dates back to the communist era.
(Bulgaria’s council of ministers building. Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
