Soon after the opening of the Northern speed tangent of Sofia by Boyko Borisov in 2016, repairs began on it, and seven years later - in 2023 - it was already covered with patches and deformations. There is considerable damage on it, with an average of about 3 cm missing from the asphalt coating provided by the project and about 7 cm from the cement stabilization underneath. This is recorded in the July report of the Croatian company CONteh, which made a complete analysis of the road through samples with specialized equipment. Based on these tests, it was also concluded that the main reason for the poor condition of the road is the low quality of the construction works, especially the asphalt coverings and the cement stabilization underneath.
This commented on "Facebook" municipal councilor Simeon Stavrev.
The measured elasticity values of the asphalt layer also varied significantly, indicating its non-uniformity. “This type of pavement construction is suitable for roads where the traffic load can be characterized as medium”, and here we are talking about a high-class road. Many high-value deformation peaks were also found along the route, which according to CONteh specialists indicated a "significantly reduced bearing capacity of the pavement structure".
The biggest problem of the tangent is that there the warranty periods have expired and now the repairs will be paid for by all Bulgarians with more money from the state budget. BGN 882,000 was paid to a Bulgarian and Spanish company for supervision, which was supposed to ensure that such outrages did not occur during construction.
Economically, the most advantageous offer in the public order for the construction of the SST was given by a merger of two of the largest construction companies in Italy - Salini - Impregillo. After appeals to the CPC and the SAC, the decision to select the contractor was overturned and the Italian consortium was removed. The project, for which BGN 180 million was spent, the majority of which was European funding, was won by the "HPVS-SST" consortium, in which the related companies "Vodstroy 98" participated, its owner "Hidrostroy" AD (behind which it was assumed that Peevski Peevski was standing), "Road Construction Veliko Tarnovo" AD, "Roadengineeringstroy" AD and "Road Construction Burgas" (of Vasil Bozhkov).
The nearly 17-kilometer tangent route was built in a record 18 months, and it was even opened to traffic two months ahead of schedule. In the course of construction, it became clear that the direct connection with the eastern arc of the Sofia Ring Road was lost from the project.
This turns out to be a big mistake, because getting off and getting off the tangent takes place via Botevgradsko shose, and this further burdens the road junction of SOP and Botevgradsko shose. At that time, the head of the API was Lazar Lazarov, against whom there are many accusations.
Deputy Nadezhda Yordanova asked the line minister what actions she had taken based on this report, including whether a procedure was being prepared for the overhaul of the Northern Express Tangent and, if so, at what stage it was and what the next steps were in terms of time, as well as whether action has been taken to seek the warranty liability of the project contractor. The minister, in practice, did not respond in substance to the part with the guarantee, but wrote that in the budget of the Agency “Road Infrastructure” the preparation, announcement and conducting of public procurements for the development of technical projects for major repairs and the subsequent implementation of author supervision is scheduled for the end of 2024. I don't understand how the warranty periods have expired on a practically new road with problems detected almost immediately after its release.
Responsibility was also not sought from the supervisory companies that worked on the northern tangent. "One ended up being awarded supervisor of the year. In addition, a license can be revoked up to one year after a violation in the work of the supervisory company is established." So far, there is no evidence that the prosecutor's office is dealing with the case. The current acting minister, Violeta Koritarova, also seems to have no interest in continuing the actions of her predecessors in investigating the case. Which once again confirms the fears that the official cabinet with Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev – a long-time representative of GERB, will not affect the interests of Boyko Borisov and his informal partner Delyan Peevski, whose name is associated with at least one of the companies that built the Northern Express Tangent.
In 2016, even Borisov announced that he had ordered the termination of orders won by “Vodstroy 98”, because of doubts that Peevski was behind it. The events after that, however, show that this was more for the public and the GERB leader did not actually end his informal partnership with Peevski.