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The closure of one of the Vitinya tunnel pipes on the Hemus highway has been congested for years at the beginning and end of weekends. Now the same will happen with the tunnel on “Thrace”. PHOTO: YORDAN SIMEONOV
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The Prime Minister: Parliament’s decision to pay for the activities – on Thursday
Rehabilitation of the Trayanovi Vrata tunnel on the Trakia highway is planned
On Wednesday, road construction companies blocked 24 key roads and intersections in Bulgaria in protest of not receiving the money for the work they did last year. The protest starts at 9 am, and only one of the places is in the capital – on Independence Square in front of the Council of Ministers (see map). The rest of the sites are in areas where renovations began last year but have not been completed because the state has stopped paying.
Regardless of the outcome of the protests, traffic will be blocked in almost the same places later in the summer, because on Tuesday the road agency
announced large-scale
program for
repair of
roads for
this year,
which includes about 2730 km of roads (which roads will be repaired in three of the areas – see the maps).
The protest was announced by the Roads Branch Chamber with a statement hours before Prime Minister Kiril Petkov announced that he had persuaded parliament to pass a decision that would allow the road agency to pay companies now 50% of the work awarded last year. An identical decision last week was blamed on coalition partners, and behind it stood only “There is such a people” – the party that includes Deputy Prime Minister and Regional Minister Grozdan Karadzhov.
“That
will pass as
decision of
Parliament
in Thursday
However, we are adamant that the payment of the remaining 50% should be subject to a parliamentary sanction in the form of a special commission to check whether these activities have actually been carried out, “said the Prime Minister during an impromptu meeting with freight carriers at Yana station.
“Our protest is against the draft decision rejected last week and we cannot cancel it. On the contrary – we are putting pressure on the parliament to fulfill the promise made by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov a while ago, “Stefan Tchaikov, chairman of the Board of the Roads Branch Chamber, told 24 Chassa after the prime minister’s statement.
50% payments in question
are worth it
near
BGN 650 million
The total debt of the state is about BGN 1.3 billion. It came about because at the end of GERB’s management the companies that do current road maintenance were assigned repairs worth much more than the budget of the road agency, which was about BGN 600 million. The caretaker government stopped payments in the middle of the year, but in the meantime most of the repairs have already been carried out, although they have not been completed everywhere.
About 1,200 of the nearly 3,000 kilometers announced by the RIA, which will be repaired this summer, are in fact the completion of the repairs started last year and abandoned due to non-payment.
Such are, for example, the 4-kilometer road between Kranevo and Golden Sands, 12 km from the highway between Kyustendil and Pernik, 52 km from the road between Varna and Novi Pazar, which is parallel to the Hemus highway and is an alternative to the highway, and many others. roads across the country. The number of these repairs is 287.
Only about 1,300 kilometers of roads will be repaired, which means that they will be directly assigned to the companies that maintain the roads in the area. These are roads that do not need major repairs. Such are, for example, 17 km from the road between Pleven and Lukovit, the road between Targovishte and Belokopitovo, which connects with the already built in this part of the highway “Hemus”, as well as 23 km between Parvomay and Haskovo and many other sections across the country.
Major repairs are actually planned
only for about
230 kilometers
roads,
for which there were ready-made projects and for which the road agency announced public procurement last week.
For the most part, though
they are
first class
roads, and that
quite busy
during the summer,
for example the road between Obzor and Oryahovo, between Kableshkovo and Sunny Beach, between Bourgas and Sozopol and others. In any case, the major repairs will be related to the closure of the respective roads and traffic diversion. However, this could happen by the end of the summer, as the selection of a contractor and a possible appeal will extend the procedure at least until July.
The repair program for this summer also includes
many projects
those who were
offered by
citizens
The road agency has received 210 proposals, but officials have selected from them mostly those for which there is project readiness. Along this line, the repair of the road through the Dyulin Pass will begin this summer – the shortest distance between Varna and Bourgas through the Balkan Mountains, which is an alternative to the first-class road between the two sea cities. This group includes 10 more road projects across the country.
Clogs on the way to the sea will not be missing this summer. On first place
not yet
completely
completed
the repair of
tunnel
“Barley”
on the Hemus highway, which has been going on for several years. This causes huge traffic jams, especially at the beginning and end of weekends, because the repairs require the closure of one of the two pipes and despite the diversion of heavy traffic off the highway, there are always kilometers of traffic jams. For years, the other tunnel of Hemus – Vitinya – was being repaired.
The surprise this year is that
the same
forthcoming
and on the highway
Thrace
The investment program of RIA envisages in 2022 to be announced procedures under the Public Procurement Act for selection of contractors and construction supervision for major repairs of the Trayanovi Vrata tunnels of Trakia and Topli Dol and Praveshki. khans ”of“ Hemus ”. The aim is to bring the facilities in line with European safety requirements, which means that they have energy-efficient lighting, emergency connection between the two pipes, fire alarm system and more.
When one of the pipes of the Trayanovi Vrata tunnel is closed, it is very likely that the convoy of cars will reach the first exit for Ihtiman in the direction from Sofia to Bourgas, so an option is currently being considered to divert heavy traffic. According to experts, it is very likely that during the repair of the tunnel,
trucks yes
be made
to travel on
the old road
Sofia – Plovdiv
at least to Pazardzhik and only from there to get on the highway.
In the Black Sea region this summer there will be difficulties in traffic and in connection with numerous repairs of smaller road sections, which, however, have heavy traffic from holidaymakers. For example, the road from Lozenets through Tsarevo to Malko Tarnovo will be repaired, as well as sections between Sozopol and Primorsko plus two roads in Varna district: Zdravets – Avren – Sindel and Provadia – Vetrino.
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