Bulgaria's Transport Ministry extended the deadline for bids in the tender to pick a concessionaire for the Rousse airport to May 7, weekly Stroitelstvo Gradut reported on April 14.
Bids would be opened no later than May 21, according to Bulgaria's regulations on public tenders.
The concession covers 1.82 million sq m of land, as well as any infrastructure and buildings that the concessionaire will build on the grounds, according to the tender notice, quoted by the weekly. The tender guarantee is set at 200 000 euro.
The concession can be amended to include additional plots necessary to expand the existing runway, subject to re-zoning approval. The company that wins the tender will also have to upgrade and repair the existing airport facilities. According to the website of Bulgaria's civil aviation authority, the airport is currently not functional.
Successful bidders will have at least five years experience managing a civilian airport with either an annual passenger flow of more than 500 000 people or annual cargo traffic of more than 10 000 tons, as well as another civiliar airport with either an annual passenger flow of more than one million people or annual cargo traffic of more than 20 000 tons.
Individual bidders of consortiums have to prove that they have recorded at least 15 million euro in revenue from managing airports in one of the past three years, as well as prove that they have invested at least 50 million euro in airports over the past five years.
