The poor condition of the roads is due to the fact that three For years we have not had contracts for ongoing repair and maintenance of the roads.
This is what the Acting Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Violeta Koritarova told bTV.
„That is why my decision, completely responsible and aware, is to continue the procedures terminated by my predecessor (Andrei Tsekov – b.ed.) contracts for current repair and maintenance,”, she also said. Koritarova spoke with the management of the "Road Infrastructure" Agency (API) and it was agreed that the commissions, continuing their work from the phase in which the procedures were suspended, would work according to the rules, completely transparently, so that there would be no doubts in the choice of the future contractor for the respective region.
API should be ready with the plan for current and major repairs in the country by mid-May, the official minister said. It also became clear that contracts have already been concluded with companies for road maintenance for the regions of Sofia, Kyustendil, Pernik and Smolyan, and the procedures for the other regions are underway.
According to Violeta Koritarova, when she took office, she was surprised to learn that the construction of the "Hemus" motorway (AM), which had to be stopped, continues according to the contracts concluded under the so-called in-house procedures . The contracts themselves were indexed. The activities on the first section - Boaza to Dermantsi are 68% completed and there has been construction since the beginning of the season. On the second, over 23% of the construction works have been completed, and on the third - over 50%, she explained.
„The first section will be completed by the end of 2024. The remaining sections to Pleven will be completed by the end of 2026, Minister Koritarova said and added that an order for designing the route of the Struma highway has been announced in the API. in the last, most difficult section, and she predicts that the route will be outside the Kresnen Gorge.
„I replaced the head of the API because I got acquainted with the audit report commissioned by Minister Andrey Tsekov, in which violations were found on the part of Yasen Yordanov“, explained his decision to replace the head of the road agency Violeta Koritarova. She added that the audit report was sent to the State Financial Inspection Agency, where they confirmed its results and the relevant authorities will be notified.
The official minister also said that at the end of the summer, the main repair of the "Danube Bridge" - something that has not been done since the facility was built. This will cost about BGN 45 million. The technical project is ready and the issuance of a construction permit is expected, Violeta Koritarova also said.
The report on the reasons for the collapse of the retaining wall of the "Struma" highway is not ready yet, but according to Koritarova, the collapse was caused by the chaos that has been in recent years and the lack of ongoing repair and maintenance of the republican road network.