Sofia City Hall Calls Tender To Extend Underground 09/04/2008
Sofia city hall-owened metro operator Metropoliten called a new tender for the construction of a new section of the metro network, Dnevnik daily reported on April 7. The previous tender for the section connecting Nadezhda junction with Cherni Vruh Boulevard was called at the turn of the year and later cancelled because no bidder offered an acceptable price. Metropoliten will finance the project with European Union structural funds under operational programme Transport. The new public procurement is divided into two lots. The first, linking Nadezhda junction to Patriarch Evtimii Boulevard, has a cost cap of 400.46 million leva, value-added tax (VAT) excluded. The second, between Patriarch Evtimii Boulevard and Cherni Vruh Boulevard, should be built for no more than 155.55 million... more

Number Of Bulgarian Trips Abroad Up By 8 In 2007 18/03/2008
The number of trips made by Bulgarians abroad increased by eight per cent year-on-year in 2007, to a total of 4.514 million, according to provision data from the National Statistics Institute. Business trips accounted for more than a half of the total, 2.535 million. In the first year of Bulgaria's membership in the European Union, Turkey retained its lead as the most preferred travel destination for Bulgarians, registering 1.212 million trips, followed by Greece (924 935) and Serbia (484 371). Together, the three neighbouring countries accounted for 58 per cent of all trips made abroad by Bulgarians in 2007. Travels to the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom recorded the highest growth last year – 57.6 and 54.6 per cent, respectively. Luxembourg and Finland are at the bottom... more

Global Commercial Property Sales Exceed 700 Billion Euro Real Capital Analytics 14/03/2008
The size of the commercial property marketplace is much larger than previous estimates, with 708.25 billion euro of significant sales documented in 2007, according to the latest research of consultancy firm Real Capital Analytics . Over 32 000 properties in 75 countries were sold for 6.81 million euro or more either individually, in portfolios or in entity level transactions. Given transparency issues that prevent complete accounting of all sales and extrapolating for deals under the 6.81 million euro threshold, the total size of the market in 2007 may well have been closer to 1.02 trillion euro. Portfolio and entity transactions accounted for 42 per cent of volume last year as deep-pocketed investors sought opportunities to make big bets in the sector. In Europe and North America,... more