Sofia Allocates Half a Million Leva for Graffiti Cleanup in Key Locations

The municipal company "Sofekostroy" is set to receive up to half a million leva to remove graffiti across Sofia, following a decision by the Metropolitan Municipal Council, reports "Dnevnik". The funds will be drawn from levies paid for each ton of waste deposited in landfills. Cleaning efforts will begin with four underpasses located at "Orlov Most", the National Palace of Culture (NDK), "Poduene" Station, and "Bulgaria" Blvd. The proposal was backed by 44 council members, while one voted against and six abstained.

Should there be remaining funds after the subways are cleaned, the budget, finance, and environment committees will decide where further cleaning efforts should be directed. Deputy Mayor Nadezhda Bobcheva, who introduced the proposal, explained that different cleaning technologies have varying costs. She added that the municipal company has two sets of machinery for the task.

Bobcheva also mentioned that there have been numerous requests to clean school facades and sports halls, but priority will be given to municipal buildings. She noted that while the garbage cleanup contracts signed in 2020 required the companies to handle graffiti, the contracts did not specify how this should be done or how to pay for it. When the city approached these companies about graffiti removal, they responded that it "couldn't be done."

The discussion sparked a heated debate between municipal councilors from "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria - Spasi Sofia" and GERB. The former argued that graffiti removal was neglected during GERB's governance, leaving Sofia unclean for the past decade. Simeon Stavrev remarked that the current administration would struggle to fix this neglect.