A new scandal is forming around the construction of the Struma highway. With the signature of the already former eco-minister, the construction was stopped. Borislav Sandov blamed the “Road Infrastructure” agency for the problem. Also implicated in the whole case was a letter from the European Commission saying there was an environmental risk to construction in the gorge.
On his penultimate day as minister, Borislav Sandov stopped the two procedures for the completion of the Struma highway through the Kresna gorge.
“These procedures were inconsistent with the expectations of the EC and the Bulgarian citizens for things to happen according to the rules,” said Sandov.
The people of the region are concerned that there are constant setbacks in the construction. And the lack of a highway leads to frequent accidents in this section and is a problem for heavy traffic.
Sandov explained that the route, which is set to pass through the gorge, is saturated with biodiversity and therefore there was a specific recommendation from the EC.
“You have to do a peer-to-peer analysis of the route alternatives. API has refused to do it for many years,” Sandov said.
The Road Agency announced that they will appeal the former minister’s decision. And they pointed out that, in order to make this additional assessment, the goals of the two protected areas must be determined and accepted by the MoEW. However, this has not been done for more than two years and prevents the API from doing an additional analysis in order to respond to the recommendations of the EC.
All the controversy surrounding the expected completion of a highway also led to the topic of money.
“The EC says, ‘You will not lose funding and what was spread yesterday is a complete lie,'” Sandov also said.
And he explained that Bulgaria can still apply for European funding for Lot 3 at the beginning of next year, but the condition for environmental protection must be met.
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