"We want to have a ready project for the children's hospital by the end of next year, to design those 800 kilometers of highways, which we will then give out for concession".
This was announced to the Bulgarian National Radio by arch. Ivan Shishkov, Minister of Regional Development and Public Works.
He assured that the infrastructure projects that are yet to be built will be accompanied by more serious control.
"In the first days, when our cabinet took office, we stopped a methodology that would have indexed advances. As taxpayers, this indexation for highway lots would have cost us 1.2 billion leva".
We found a huge hidden deficit, the minister also pointed out.
"There were an enormous number of contracts and invoices that had to be paid. This is also implied by the state of the 2026 budget. We said that this budget is not ours.
It is very strange that the political forces that have brought this situation to the last three years are filing complaints in court. It is part of their political game, but they have gone too far with all this behavior. They want to save the little electorate that they have left.
The legacy was like this. We had a broken budget, potholed roads and a lack of highways.
As much as we would like more money to be offered for large infrastructure projects within 2026, they will go to 2027.
Huge advances were paid for the "Hemus" highway, for the highway that runs from Montana to Vidin.
When they were handing out construction, when they were handing out money without any projects, there is no way to change this in 100 days. However, there is a way to start changing the way the country develops.
What is happening on the roads is a consequence of missing highways and the attitude towards the road sector, Shishkov believes.
"We need to complete the "Hemus" highway to Veliko Tarnovo as the first stage. There are projects up to that point. We can make it so that within two and a half years it will be completed by that point.
We have two ways. One option is to try to terminate these contracts. They are from 2019. But there are advances. At the moment they are terminated, what happens to the advances given? The state has not given the construction companies a front to build because there were no projects. The biggest sin is that there was no need to give out advances, since there were no projects.
There is no other way but to renegotiate the contracts so that the state is in a good position. Most likely, we will come to an understanding with them to pay them in installments".
The minister also commented on the suspended public procurement for road repair.
"This is a public procurement that is not for specific roads. That is, we will conclude some contracts with some companies for specific regions, they will become monopolists. Given that we have sites that we are just starting to approve, but we also have public procurements for these sites, we will not cause any problems at all".
The entire construction model in Bulgaria is distorted, the minister believes.
By the middle of next week, there will be an order to create a working group for the guardrails, Shishkov also announced in the program "Predi vissy".
"By the end of September, I want to receive a clear answer on what needs to be changed in the regulation. I want to know on what principle in Europe they choose concrete and guardrails. I want to clean up the lobbying. Expertise and having real road safety, as far as possible in the absence of highways, is a matter solely of expert decision. Based on expert decisions, we will develop policy. We will change the regulation".
Our parliamentary group will introduce changes to the Forestry Act, he also announced.