Bulgaria Cancels Plovdiv Airport Concession Tender
Bulgaria's government said on Wednesday that it has cancelled the tender for a 35-year concession contract to run Plovdiv Airport, after the first-ranked consortium comprising China's HNA Group and Dutch-registered Plovdiv Airport Invest withdrew its offer. There is significant difference between the offers of the participants ranked first and second, and it was at the discretion of the transport ministry to decide whether to cancel the procedure or to award the contract to the second-placed consortium, the government said in a statement following its weekly meeting. It is also not viable to award such a long-term contract after holding the procedure under the old concession law, which was recently amended in order to be in line with EU legislation, the government said. The HNA Group - Plovdiv Airport Invest tie-up pledged to invest 79.1 million euro ($91.1 million) in the airport and pay an annual concession fee of 600,000 levs plus 6% of all net income from the operation of Plovdiv Airport.