„In one year of government, we managed to restart some of the most important infrastructure projects. My message to future cabinets is not to leave them on the back burner, because every Bulgarian expects them“. This was said by the outgoing Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Ivan Ivanov, who reported on the work done by the MRDPW team within the mandate.
Among the infrastructure projects, he highlighted the commissioning of the section of the „Hemus“ motorway between the „Boaza“ substation and the connection with the Lukovit-Ugarchin road, on the last section of the „Europe“ motorway, the modernization of 13.4 km of the Mezdra road – Lyutidol and 33 kilometers from the Botevgrad - Rebarkovo road. The Minister also highlighted the started bypass of the town of Kresna - part of the "Struma" highway, the issued construction permits for sections 4, 5 and 9 of the "Hemus" highway and for the entire South-Eastern bypass of Plovdiv. Documents are being prepared for the issuance of 4 new construction permits - for sections 6, 7 and 8 of the "Hemus" highway and for the roundabout on the Silistra-Shumen road, it became clear from the Minister's words.
Ivanov's report shows that nearly 147 kilometers of the republican road network has been rehabilitated or newly built with funds under the "Regional Development" program 2021-2027.
2,409 agreements have been signed under the Investment Program for Municipal Projects. Almost 384 million euros have been disbursed from the MRDPW and another 130.5 million euros from the Bulgarian Development Bank.
"An achievement for the ministry team is that it managed to save the procedure for energy renovation of the residential building stock under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan", the regional minister reported. A total of 1,039 buildings worth a total of 659 million euros are involved in it, with nearly 49,000 households or 150,000 citizens living in them. Among the many activities implemented during the year is the completed National Plan for the Renovation of Residential and Non-Residential Buildings in the Republic of Bulgaria, which envisages a phased transformation of the national building stock into zero-emission buildings by 2050.
The unified information system for condominium ownership has been finalized. The Regulation for its implementation is about to be promulgated.
The National Program for Energy Efficiency of Multi-Family Residential Buildings - Second National Program, for which the provided funding is BGN 2.5 billion until 2029, is also in an advanced stage of readiness. Its actual implementation is expected to start after the adoption of the state budget for 2026.
A total of over EUR 106.4 million has been paid under projects implemented under the National Recovery and Sustainability Plan for energy renovation of public buildings, buildings for administrative services, culture and sports, production, trade and services.
"A lot of work has also been done under the European programs that the MRDPW implements," emphasized Minister Ivanov, namely: under the “Development of Regions“ 2021-2027 Program, 560 contracts for a total of EUR 1.6 billion have been concluded; under the territorial cooperation programs, the funds have already been largely agreed upon.
The Minister gave high marks to the work of the “Road Infrastructure“ Agency, praising the team for having done a “perfect job“ this winter in clearing the republican road network of snow. He explicitly emphasized that no annexes for indexing prices to the construction contracts for large infrastructure projects have been signed, because he himself has prohibited the RIA. The reason is “this is a commitment for the state budget and future rulers must consider whether to do it.“
At the end of the report today, it also became clear that Minister Ivan Ivanov has requested the resignation of the manager of Shumen Water and Sewerage for the second time, due to suspicions of sabotage in the company's work and lack of trust from citizens.