More tender details revealed for Bulgarian airports

Tina Milton

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The Bulgarian Ministry of Transport is seeking an operator for the two main Black Sea airports at Varna and Bourgas

The contract to operate the airports will run for 35 years, with an option to extend for a further 15 years, and will include the duty-free shops.

Companies will be invited to submit bid applications by November 12 and final bids are due by March 7 2005. The winning bidder will be expected to invest about ?130m ($164m) in the two airports in the first 10 years of the concession. The funding will be used to create new passenger terminals, upgrade runways and create additional car parking space.

Reports indicate that more than 15 investors have expressed an interest in the contract including Fraport, the Wiggins Group, a consortium of Credit Suisse First Boston, Montgomery Asset International and Brussels International Airport Co.

A consortium of France's Gide Loyrette Noel and local firm Arsov, Nachev & Ganeva has been hired as a legal consultant for the concession procedure. The primary concession fee will be ?300,000 ($379,750).