© Nadezhda Chipeva, Capital
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On April 21 this year, the former head of Avtomagistrali, Stoyan Belichev, instructed two private companies to renew the marking of the Struma highway. So far, however, they have not completed the task in full. And the contract itself is assigned inhouse. This became clear from an interview with BNT of the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Violeta Komitova. Her comment came after a bus crash last week that killed 45 citizens of northern Macedonia.
One of the reasons for the accident, which is being considered by the investigation, is the condition of the road markings and the signalization. This led to the activation of the prosecutor’s office, which decided to check the markings of all highways and first-class roads in the country.
Komitova said the case was very similar to the one found by the caretaker government on the Hemus highway. “Contracting, done-unfinished, in-house orders,” she said, then added that the contract for the maintenance of the marking was given in-house without a competition.
“Admittedly, I didn’t care about Struma. I didn’t expect it to be in such a state,” Komitova added. She added that they would make the companies responsible for the marking get the job done faster.
The regional minister added that she had seen other accidents on the highways, she had seen overturned trucks and tanks, but so far she had not seen such a fire in a highway accident.
“This is a disgustingly severe catastrophe, but not an unusual one. There is something very strange here and I have no explanation for how everything can be reduced to ashes in a matter of minutes. The fire broke out very quickly and I assume it covered elements that burn very quickly. because there was no time to react, “Komitova said.
She recalled that she had commissioned an inspection of the overall condition of the Struma highway. The report is not yet ready, but is expected to be presented in the coming days.
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