News - Archive

11
Jul. 2008 Foreign investments reign over Bulgarian property developments Lovely stone built house located in the majestic Rhodopies 15km from the town of Momchilgrad with extremely beautiful surroundings. There are only 6 houses in the village which makes it the most peaceful place in the world. Only 1 km. away there is other village offering all kind of shops and facilities.
Asphalt road leads to the village while the last 150 m are of dirt road.
The house offers 110 sq.m. of living area. There is an additional outdoor building.
The view from the property is breathtaking.
10
Jul. 2008 Central railway station in Plovdiv to be renovated Plovdiv’s architectural studio Arkont-A won the tender called to pick a design for the renovation of the city’s central railway station, mediapool.bg reported.

The National Railway Infrastructure Company (NRIC) has said, as quoted by Dnevnik daily, that the investor selected to do the renovation will also be granted building permission for additional construction in the area as compensation.

The architectural project amounts to 150 million euro and envisions building two glass domes with a diameter of 25m, the construction of retail and residential complex as well as complicated infrastructure of underground tunnels connecting Plovdiv’s centre with the southern part of the city.

The new buildings will be owned by the investor, NRIC has said, as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

Further negotiations with the defense and finance ministries regarding the land plots selected for the new construction are expected to take place within the upcoming six months. The reason is that, currently, the offices of the National Revenue Agency are located on the land plot.

At the same time, according to mediapool.bg, Sofia’s central railway station will also undergo renovation, which as of now is estimated at 35 million leva. The project features the construction of a multi-functional building with office and retail spaces as well as a parking lot.

Interest in the Sofia project so far has been expressed from Spanish investor Riofisa, which already has a project in the vicinity of the rail station, in addition to Italian and Austrian developers.

08
Jul. 2008 Carrefour to build mall in Stara Zagora Carrefour, the French hypermarket chain, announced plans to build a retail-entertainment complex in Stara Zagora, weekly Stroitelstvo Gradut said. The total investment will amount to 10 million euro as the property itself will be situated on a land plot of 20 900 sq m. The project features a mall, whose retail space will be 14 575 sq m, as well as hypermarket on a further 6324 sq m.

Architect Ilian Iliev of Planning Ltd. has been picked todesign the mall, with Carrefour currently still looking to select a construction company to build it. With the opening of the complex, Carrefour has promised to offer 400 new job positions when the project is completed by 2010 as planned.

The international hypermarket chain has a global network of stores and it is considered to be the second largest retail group after the American corporation Wal-Mart, in terms of revenue. Carrefour operates in Europe, South America, North Africa and Asia.

In the next five to seven years, the retail giant is planning to open at least 20 hypermarkets in Bulgaria.

As previously reported by The Sofia Echo, in March Carrefour sold its largest development in the country to date, constructed on Sofia’s Tsarigradsko Chausse bouldevard for close to 200 million euro. The new buyer, Greek fund Assos Capital, is entitled to complete the adjoining commercial centre, but Carrefour retains ownership of the 14 600 sq m hypermarket, located in the mall.


06
Jul. 2008 2218 New Residential Buildings Constructed in Bulgaria in 2007 A total of 2218 new apartment buildings were built in Bulgaria according to data provided by the National Statistical Institute.

The Black Sea port cities of Varna and Burgas lead in the number of new residential buildings with 508 and 451 respectively.

The capital Sofia ranks third with 193 new apartment buildings, whereas the second largest city Plovdiv has 176.

The new construction has brought 18 204 new apartments, increasing the total number of homes in the country to 3 746 758. Of these 2 372 522 are in the cities and towns (527 916 in the capital Sofia), and 1 374 236 are located in the villages.

According to the NSI, the average number of people per one home is 2,04 (down from 2,06 in 2006). The average residential area per person is 20,13 square meters, with 17,72 square meters in the cities and towns, and 25,96 in the villages.

04
Jul. 2008 More delays for Vidin-Calafat Danube bridge The project to build a second bridge over the Danube River between Vidin in Bulgaria and Calafat in Romania has run into new snags, which may delay its completion, Dnevnik daily reported on July 3.

Rather than change the original design, Bulgaria's Transport Ministry has decided to carry out a new assessment whether the original design of the bridge will be robust enough to withstand the test of time and elements, the daily said.

The company picked to build the bridge and the adjoining infrastructure on the Bulgarian side, Spain's Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC), is still around four months behind schedule, but confident that it will meet its deadline to complete the bridge by end-2010, Bulgarian Transport Minister Petar Moutafchiev said, as quoted by Dnevnik.

Part of the delay was caused by the slow progress of geological surveys and expropriation of privately-owned land for the needs of the project, but also by the refusal of the project managers, the consortium between French Ingerop and British High-Point Rendel, to accept the Spanish company's design for the bridge.

The project would cost 226 million euro, with nearly two thirds of the funding provided by the European Union: 70 million euro under pre-accession aid programme Ispa and a further 70 million via a loan from the European Investment Bank.

However, with global commodity prices constantly rising, the costs of the project could well turn out higher than initially estimated, Dnevnik said.

03
Jul. 2008 Bulgaria ranked 44th in Forbes Best Countries for Business Bulgaria advanced 24 positions to 44th in Forbes' third annual ranking of Best Countries for Business, published by the magazine on June 27.

Formerly called the Forbes Capital Hospitality Business, the report gauges more that 121 countries against key macroeconomic parameters such as gross domestic product (GDP), GDP per capita, unemployment, inflation, as well as degree of innovations and technological savvy. Forbes also gives marks for degree of personal freedoms.

Bulgaria performed worse than neighbouring Romania (40), Turkey (41) or Croatia (42) but fared better than Greece (53) or Ukraine (75).

The US, top performer last year, slid three notches down to fourth to relinquish its crown to Denmark. The Scandinavian country excelled with low inflation and low unemployment combined with high innovation and technological savvy marks.

The second- and third-ranked countries were Ireland and Finland and the top five was wrapped up by the United Kingdom. Estonia proved the best country among EU newcomers making it to the last position in the top 10.

Chad propped up the table, with Zimbabwe and Syria immediately above it.

02
Jul. 2008 Debt financing to be scarce through end-2009 - DTZ Debt financing will continue to be scarce for at least another year and a half, one of the world's largest real estate brokers and consultancies DTZ said in its report titled Money and Property 2008.

DTZ's conclusion draws on a Lenders Survey, which sees three in four respondents in Europe anticipating tightening lending terms and conditions. In addition, another 45 per cent of the respondents in Europe expecting a cut in typical loan-to-value ratios.

The conclusion is also explicit from the halving of the volume of direct real estate transactions in the first quarter of 2008, DTZ said in a statement on June 2008.

DTZ expects the volume of global real estate transactions market to dip 30 per cent on the year to $500 billion. This would represent a reversal from the upward trend in 2007, when the value of the real estate market reached $730 billion.

The value of the real estate capital market in 2007 rose 18 per cent on the year to $12 trillion.

DTZ, however, sounded upbeat about the Central and East European region and predicted growth for rental markets.

Furthermore, more than six in 10 respondents (62 per cent) in DTZ's Investor Intentions Survey said that they planned to raise spending on real estate in 2008. However, the bulk of investments are expected to be directed to the Asia Pacific region and China, in particular.

30
Jun. 2008 Looking for the Exit Those keen on camping and music who are looking for ‘exit’ form the everyday routine may find Novi Sad an interesting option for a summer vacation. It is not that the camping sites along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, at least those, who still exist, are not an appealing option, but Exit Fest can provide the campers with something more: great live music for every taste.

It claims to be the biggest music festival in South-Eastern Europe and takes place in the picturesque Petrovaradin Fortress in the Serbia’s second largest city, Novi Sad, some 400 km to the north-west of Sofia.

Since its first edition in 2000, Exit Fest had brought to its stages names like Kosheen, Roni Size, David Morales, Asian Dub Foundation, Stereo MC's, Moloko, Massive Attack, Cypress Hill, Brand New Heavies, Timo Maas, Roger Sanchez, Satoshie Tomiie, White Stripes, Garbage, Slayer, Apocalyptica, Fatboy Slim, Carl Cox, Pet Shop Boys, Scissor Sisters, Franz Ferdinand, The Cardigans, The Cult, Billy Idol, Him, Goldie, David Guetta, Hernan Cattaneo, Snoop Dogg, The Prodigy, The Beastie Boys and Robert Plant, among others.

This year’s edition, to be held on six stages on July 10-13, also sounds promising with some 140 bands and performers arriving in Serbia for it. Deep Dish’s Dubfire ans Sharam, Kultur Shock, Manu Chao, Ministry, Sex Pistols and Sven Vath are to perform at Exit Fest 2008. The parties start in the early evenings and finish around 6am on the next morning.

29
Jun. 2008 Welsh Vodka Brand to Enter Bulgaria Liquor Market The Brecon Five Vodka brand owned by the Welsh Whisky Company is to be introduced soon in the Bulgarian market.

The news was announced Friday by WalesOnline, which also reported that the first shipping of the Welsh vodka to Bulgaria would consist of 6000 bottles.

What is more, entering the Bulgarian market will be the first venture of the Welsh Whisky Company in Easter Europe.

The announcement was officially made by the Company Chairman Nigel Short made during the opening of a new visitor's centre at the Penderyn distillery.

The price of a 700-ml bottle of the Brecon Five Vodka on the company website is about GBP 15,50, which is approximately BGN 38.
26
Jun. 2008 Malls, malls, malls... The investments in trading and business centers will be most appealing during this year real estate experts reported.

Saturation with trading centers might be expected after 2010 if the entire planed projects are realized. Excepting the 4 malls which have been built in Sofia there are project for 18 more.

The Bulgarian market of trading centers is in upsurge at present the experts said. One of the reason is that after the joining of Bulgaria to EU great number of world trading makes search their place on the Bulgarian market.