© Spas Spasov
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Despite repeated assurances from the local administration in Varna that all 55 stairwells for the movement of people with disabilities through the pedestrian subways in the city are working, an inspection of Dnevnik showed a completely different picture. The fact that, with few exceptions, the platforms do not work has been confirmed by people with mobility problems, for whom the city is practically an insurmountable obstacle. Proof of the careless and formal attitude of municipal officials to their problems is the fact that some of the platforms are located in places where it was clear during their installation that they would be unusable.
Part of all 55 platforms installed in Varna in recent years have been placed in 9 subways on Knyaz Boris I Blvd. They connect the densely populated urban neighborhoods “Chaika” and “Vasil Levski” with the Sea Garden. Several inspections of Dnevnik, carried out during the last 9 months, showed that in different periods of time no more than two of them were in working order. In one of the subways, where the equipment is installed, only one works. In others, access to the platforms is impossible, as they can only be reached by stairs, which are an insurmountable obstacle for people in wheelchairs.
A story about the forced misery of social assistance in Varna – here
Video from the dark corridor of social assistance in Varna – here
According to a written report provided by the Municipality of Varna under the Access to Public Information Act, “the average value of the stair platforms for people with disabilities installed in the city subways is BGN 58,486.56 with VAT.” This means for all platforms
the municipality has spent more than BGN 3.2 million without VAT
for equipment that does not work.
In the same report it is noted that the first 28 platforms were installed during the implementation of the ill-fated project “Integrated Urban Transport of Varna”. It is worth a total of BGN 115 million, provided almost entirely under the Operational “Growing Regions” 2007 – 2013. The executor of the public procurement in this case is the Company under the Law on Obligations and Contracts “Arma”. are
“subscribers” for almost all major public procurement in the city
– the rooms “Hydrostroy” and “Inzhstroyengineering”.
During the partial rehabilitation of the main Blvd. “Knyaz Boris I” 11 more platforms were installed. The executor of the order is again “Hydrostroy”.
The last series of 16 stair platforms was installed during the implementation of the second phase of the project “Integrated Urban Transport of Varna”, funded again by the Operational Program “Growing Regions 2014 – 2020” with over BGN 29 million. No surprises and here the main contractor of the activities is “Hydrostroy”, as part of them are shared with the consortiums “Varna Boulevards 2017” and “Union of National Awakeners 2017”.
With a contract dated September 18 last year. the administration of the mayor of Varna Ivan Portnih has concluded a contract for subscription service of the stair platforms with the company “Liftcom service”. It is for a period of three years and is worth BGN 194 thousand or nearly BGN 65 thousand per year. In addition, all platforms are insured with the Armeec insurance company.
Most of the platforms, however, had
too short a life, ended soon after their discovery
Now they do not work or show defects that make them unreliable for people who are already overcoming distances in the city with effort
Zoya Chavdarova, the national tennis champion for people with disabilities, claims that she never had the opportunity to use the platforms when she had to cross Knyaz Boris I Blvd. on her way to the tennis courts in the Sea Garden. “I don’t know of any other people with mobility problems I know who have used them. They just never work,” she said.
Dilyana Deneva, an expert in digital marketing, consultant in an accessible environment and editor-in-chief of the “I read” site, has been in a wheelchair for 15 years. She also claims that she never relies on platforms. “How many times I decide to use them, it always turns out that they are out of order, that only one is working, or that something is wrong at all,” she says.
they are totally unreliable, so I don’t risk it
I’m always looking for an alternative way to cross the streets. “
According to Dilyana, there is no adequate way to signal in the event of an accident with the platforms. “Each of them has a phone number for signals, but whenever I or my acquaintances tried to use them, things were too cumbersome,” she said.
When he goes to work, Yovko Peev often looks for a way through the subways on two other central boulevards in Varna – “Vladislav Varnenchik” and “Slivnitsa”. Soon after the platforms were opened, however, they stopped working. “I don’t even bother to try them anymore,” he says. “My stroller is rechargeable and I can afford to go to the nearest traffic light. I don’t know what people with ring strollers do, the subways have no alternative.”
Yovko claims that associations of people with mobility problems have often sought help from the municipality to repair non-functioning platforms. From there, they always answered the same thing – that they check every signal and all platforms work flawlessly. However, when we check them, none of them are in good condition, says Yovko. Probably the municipality also came to the conclusion that they are useless because I recently saw that one of the platforms on Vladislav Varnenchik Blvd. is tied to ” pig tails. “Apparently no one intends to repair it anymore.”
In the local administration in Varna, however
officials live in a parallel reality
Inspection of “Dnevnik” from March 29 this year showed that none of all 9 platforms on Knyaz Boris I Blvd. can be put into operation. In response to the questions sent on this occasion, the Municipal Infrastructure Department answered the following: “Representatives of the Municipality of Varna, district administrations and the contractor under the contract for subscription service of stair platforms, conduct joint weekly inspections of facilities. an inspection was carried out this year, during which it was established that
all platforms on Knyaz Boris I Blvd. are working“
Again, according to the same answers, out of all 55 platforms in different parts of the city, 13 or more than a quarter did not work during the inspection. The reason for this was theft of parts of the equipment or vandalism. According to the information on the actions taken in this regard, “all damages were promptly filed with the insurer.”
Because of
the embarrassing discrepancy with reality
of the allegations of the employees of the municipal administration in Varna, on May 19 this year Dnevnik conducted a new inspection of the platforms in all 9 subways on Knyaz Bris I Blvd. Only two of them were on the move. In one case, a person in a wheelchair could enter the pedestrian underpass but not exit from the other side.
The most striking illustration of the “abstract” approach in the installation of the platforms, worth over BGN 3 million, however, is the facility of the bus stop at the so-called Monument to the Bulgarian-Soviet military friendship of Pochivka magazine. The bad news for people with disabilities is that, like many others, it doesn’t work. The good thing is that the negligence of municipal officials will save them another bitter disappointment. Their short journey with this platform would end in front of three steps without any chance of overcoming them. Thus, people in wheelchairs, probably for some time, would be captives of arrogant greed, hypocrisy and heartlessness. What does what they leave behind look like – see in the video.
