© МРРБ
– Footage from Violeta Komitova’s inspection of Hemus
A company that supplies materials for the construction of the Hemus highway has received BGN 84 million in advance, without even expropriation procedures being carried out and without knowing exactly when the construction of the highway section will begin. This became clear during an inspection of the construction activities on the highway by the caretaker regional minister Violeta Komitova. She inspected the route of section 5 of Hemus at the future road junction near the Lovech village of Krushuna.
For the section “Motorways” EAD has concluded a contract in 2020 for the supply of materials worth BGN 97.8 million, of which BGN 84 million have already been paid in advance to the supplier company, and soon after the conclusion of the agreement. So far, about BGN 1 million has been spent from this money, the minister specified.
“A detailed development plan and an extended conceptual design have been prepared for the section, but no expropriation procedures have been carried out. Construction will begin in one, two or three years, after the necessary procedures have been carried out,” Komitova added.
“The contract for the supply of materials is for 53 months. It is known in advance that something will be done in the next four and a half years, but we have not started yet, and the money has been distributed. It is not known when there will be a building permit.” she added.
According to her, meetings with all companies that have received advance payments are forthcoming. There are about 40 of them, and the purpose of the talks is to clarify whether the companies are economically stable and whether they will not go bankrupt in the coming years without fulfilling their obligations under the contracts.
Regarding the change of the management of Avtomagistrali EAD, Komitova commented that she was politely trying to part with the head of the company, Stoyan Belichev, but he did not want to leave his post. “Obviously we will split up in a rural way,” she added.
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