From today, citizens, institutions and businesses can familiarize themselves with the contracts for current repair and maintenance of the republican road network in the country. This was announced yesterday by the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Nikolay Naydenov, who, together with the Chairman of the Management Board of the Agency “Road Infrastructure“ (API) Eng. Todor Anastasov and the advisor Eng. Yordan Terziev, presented the platform roads.mrrb.bg. All contracts for current repair and maintenance of the RIA are published in it. On the web portal, in addition to a map of the republican road network, everyone can obtain clear information in which section repairs are underway, in which they are upcoming, as well as where the activities have been completed and the section is already under warranty. This way, it is now known which section is within the warranty period and will be able to report if it notices irregularities. Data on the cost of the repair activities, the client, the contractor, the funds paid, when the repair started and when it should be completed, etc. have also been published.
“The platform is part of my commitment to the Prime Minister, Mr. Andrey Gyurov, to make the activities, contracts and money flows in RIA transparent. A similar system is already in place for municipal projects, for which there is already transparency of the processes and traceability of how the money has reached and is currently reaching the municipalities. In RIA, the first step is to show the public the most discussed contracts for current repair and maintenance. Because more than half of the road budget is spent on them, and at the same time they are the face of road maintenance, because everyone travels on these roads and is a consumer of the contracts“, commented Minister Naydenov. He emphasized that the development is the result of round-the-clock work to organize a huge volume of data. Eng. Yordan Terziev emphasized that the map is dynamic and uses the principle of linear referencing. All information is structured and available for download, which allows analysts and citizens to carry out independent control. At the next stage, an upgrade is planned with the other contracts concluded by the road agency - for repair of signs, road markings, guardrails, major repairs, etc. "The idea is for the map to be updated in a timely manner by the RIA, from where the contracts will be uploaded after signing, and thus we will also improve coordination within the agency itself, because it is much easier when an electronic file has been created for a road section," Eng. Terziev also said. The link will also lead to the concluded framework contracts for road maintenance. At the time of the map's presentation, the total value of the assignments for current repair and maintenance in the country amounted to over 1.4 billion euros. This amount covers all active, planned and already completed tasks under the current framework contracts with road maintenance companies. The map shows the distribution of these funds by specific areas, roads and individual sections.
Eng. Todor Anastasov informed that the RIA is currently reviewing all contracts for the assignment of current repairs and maintenance. One of the reasons is that some of them are expiring and new procedures must be assigned, which take about a year. During this period of time, it will be considered how to improve the procedures and learn from what has been done so far so that such violations do not occur. “We need to better assess the condition of the pavements, on the basis of which there can be a realistic assignment. We also need to think about the duration and spending of funds, so that what happened at the moment with these orders is not allowed“, commented Eng. Anastasov. He also said that the resource is limited and the monthly tasks given to companies under framework contracts will be reduced to a minimum, but in such a way as to guarantee the safety and comfort of travel. The practice of carrying out major repairs in the form of preventive or current ones will also be stopped. “We are looking for a balance to achieve maximum quality for the money we have“, said Eng. Anastasov.
He also informed that during the holidays no repairs are planned on the republican road network, so as not to interfere with traffic. The planned repairs for this year will begin after the holidays.