Another vote of the Municipal Council to the detriment of the citizens of Varna – this is how the mayor of Varna Blahomir Kotsev described today’s vote, with which the councillors did not accept a report for the allocation of 80 000 leva. These funds are needed for the preparation of complex conformity assessment reports for investment projects, for which Varna could receive 100 million leva from the state budget.
The councillors voted by 16 votes in favour, 30 abstentions and 5 non-votes on the supplement to the Municipality’s Capital Programme for 2024. Because of this delay, some of these projects may have to be dropped and Varna may not see a library or new streets, sidewalks and playgrounds, Kotsev said.
“Who are you working for, councillors – for yourselves or for Varna”, Mayor Kotsev addressed representatives of different parties in the Municipal Council.
“I demand that you answer to the citizens of Varna and to your constituents why you abstain from voting the money for investments. We can get this money tomorrow for projects that the leadership and the administration have been working hard on for 6 months”, he said from the City Council podium.
The mayor also pointed out that the funds for conformity assessment of investment projects will provide not just 100 million leva by the end of the year, but a total of 300 million by 2026 – money that Varna has never seen before. At the moment, there is an opportunity to peel off the bottom and what the previous administration bequeathed us – we had only one project for a city library with a building permit and no other ready proposal to apply for this programme, he added.
According to Mayor Kotsev, a gap in the Ministry of Finance’s Investment Programme for municipal projects has left municipalities using their own budgets to secure funding for the procedures in question. If there is no payment for these projects by the end of the year, Varna will not receive the 300 million, Blazmir Kotsev further pointed out.
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