A viewer's signal for the international road E-79 between Vratsa and Montana. However, it is not about potholes, but about huge dumps on both sides of the route. There are no sanctions, but there is no control, bTV found out.
This is what the main road in all of North-West Bulgaria looks like.
The main road E-79 is the main connection of “Danube Bridge 2“ with Europe. It is used by thousands of vehicles per day. But their owners also use it as they see fit.
With Petar Yordanov, we walk through the dozens of unregulated dumps along the route between Vratsa and Montana. The very first sight, at the turnoff in the area of “Iron Bridge“, is shocking.
“What provoked me the most was that years ago there was a Czech artist, his name was Černy, who depicted Bulgaria as a Turkish toilet in an installation and at that time I was very angry with this man, even quite angry, but traveling here and seeing this, I am even angrier, because it turns out that he was right“, explains Petar, who sent the signal.
The temporary parking lot is also full of garbage.
“Tires, plates, bottles, cups, plastic bags, papers, excrement of all kinds, this is all a toilet here, people have nowhere to relieve themselves, I understand them“, says Petar.
We see a Bulgarian truck that has stopped for a break in the parking lot. The drivers are driving goods to Germany.
“There are no such things left as in Europe, containers, there are no amenities here, in Bulgaria, toilets“, says Tsvetomir Iliev.
From some of the envelopes you can also tell which country the driver is from. We also try to talk to a Polish truck driver. He categorically refuses and takes pictures of us with his phone while we take pictures.
In the dump you can see orange peels, seeds, eggs, it is obvious that the drivers have thrown away entire envelopes with the remains of the food they threw away.
“There is absolutely everything for a dump. There are armchairs on the turns, tables, chairs are broken, it is completely furnished, there are truck parts all over the road, you can even assemble a truck“, says Petar.
Comparisons with Europe are inevitable.
“Romania and Serbia, there is no such thing, I guarantee you 100%, first of all, the control is very strong and it has led to the self-awareness of the drivers“, explains Petar.
After our signal, an inspection is carried out by the Environmental Inspectorate.
They will write a prescription to the Road Agency, which is the owner of the route. And the RIA assures that by mid-February the garbage in the Vratsa section of the E-79 will be collected and removed, and in the Montana section this was recently done.
Due to the intense traffic on the E-97, however, in a short time, garbage dumps sprout like mushrooms after rain, so the call is to be careful.
“The first thing I teach my children is that just because we are poor, does not mean we have to be dirty, here the issue comes down to self-awareness, but also the state“, says Petar.