At the suggestion of the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Rossen Jeliazkov, the government terminated the concession procedure at Plovdiv Airport.
The process was initiated by the Council of Ministers Decree No 1120 of 30 December 2016, and in the course of the procedure the Government designated the Concessionaire Consortium between Hainan and Plovdiv Airport Invest. Within the statutory period, the first-ranked participant informed about the impossibility to conclude a concession contract.
The procedure has been opened and developed under the terms of the revoked Concessions Act. He states that the concessionaire, the Council of Ministers, may decide whether to offer a second-place participant to sign a contract.
There are also differences in the proposed amount of the concession payment. The consortium between Hainan and Plovdiv Airport Invest offers a fixed part of the annual concession payments - BGN 600 000 excluding VAT, and Plovdiv Consortium - 120 000 BGN excluding VAT.
In the discussion process, the substantial difference in bidders' bids was taken into account. The first-placed bidder - Consortium between Hainan and Plovdiv Airport Invest, for the duration of the concession, has provided for investments amounting to EUR 79 083 000 excluding VAT. The next offer - at Consortium Airport Plovdiv, is a staggering investment of EUR 65,513,475 without VAT.
The new Concessions Act was adopted following the announcement of the concession at Plovdiv Airport. It is economically and legally justified that the procedure be carried out under the conditions and by the order of the current law.