Shumen Municipality Threatens To Cancel Heating Utility Privatisation
The municipality of Shumen said it has sent a one-month notice to Israeli power generation equipment manufacturer Telemenia that it may cancel the contract for the privatisation of the local municipal heating utility.
The privatisation contract may be voided as the Israeli company has still not made a payment to the amount of 51,000 levs ($33,900/26,100 euro), representing the difference between the sale price and the submitted deposit, the municipality said in a statement.
The Shumen municipality and Telemenia signed on February 1 an agreement for the sale of Toplofikatsiya Shumen, under which the Israeli company had 10 days to pay the remainder of the money.
Telemenia was the sole bidder in the tender for the sale of Shumen's municipal heating utility. Under the terms of the privatisation agreement, it has to guarantee the supply of heating for the 2013-2014 heating season, to invest 75 million euro ($97.6 million) in the next three years, to pay off the utility's liabilities to Bulgaria's gas monopoly Bulgargaz and to create 50 jobs.