Comment by Emilia Milcheva:
After the death of 12-year-old Siyana on the Telish-Radomirtsi section (part of the I-3 Pleven-Lukovit road), the authorities finally moved - not out of responsibility, but because of public pressure. They removed the leadership of the Pleven Regional Road Administration "until the circumstances are clarified". And they started to do what they had not done - they put up 12 signs and 8 signs at the place where the speed limit has already been reduced from 70 to 60 km/h. All this - only after the tragedy, although the Ministry of Interior has insisted on the Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA) to do so three times.
Interior Minister Daniel Mitov ordered a "comprehensive inspection" of the dangerous roads. Regional Minister Ivan Ivanov, under whose "wing" the RIA is, was not late – he also ordered an inspection. The goal: "establishing geodynamic processes" and analyzing sections with a high concentration of accidents. If weaknesses are found – they would make them safe "instantly". As if no one knew about them until now.
The inspections should be completed within a week – and they plan to take samples of the road surface, at least the regional minister promised such, the prosecutor's office was conducting investigative experiments. How deep will they reach into the asphalt? It might smell – and very badly. We remember the revelations of the official offices about missing asphalt – up to a third of the required thickness of the pavement on key roads. In February 2023, there were again "joint inspections" of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works. The then acting Minister Ivan Shishkov called some of the road repairs "construction props".
The question is not whether there will be inspections. The question is – will there be those responsible. Or will everything be swept away under the new signs.
Who maintains the roads and who controls
The most dangerous roads in Bulgaria have been known for years – the Traffic Police has an accurate map, and the risky sections are well known. But what remains hidden from the public is what exactly the companies that won multi-million public contracts for the maintenance of these roads do, and what control the RIA exercises over their work. The roads are not the problem, but the inaction of state institutions that do not ensure their safety.
The state owes the families of those who died on the road and the entire society a public disclosure of the guilty - officials and uncontrolled companies that have left dangerous sections to kill people. Tragedies have been happening on some roads for decades, and nothing has changed. The section where Siyana died is one such example, and was designated as risky.
It became clear in the parliamentary committee on internal security that the Ministry of Interior has signaled the RIA to clean the ditches and renew the markings with a red line in the middle, with guide posts on the road. On social networks, people from Pleven shared that the problem in Humata (that's the name of the area where the dangerous section is located) has been going on for decades and everyone was aware of it.
The MRDPW and the RIA have not named the companies responsible for maintaining the roads in the Pleven region, the markings, the road signs and the road restriction systems. After all, they act on assignments from the RIA, no order - no work. A check by Deutsche Welle showed that they are not random, some have a long history in road construction and winning public contracts.
The PST Group is responsible for the road signs in the Northwestern region, with which a 4-year contract for 16.6 million leva was signed in November 2023, during the PP-DB government, when Andrey Tsekov was the regional minister. PST Group is one of the construction companies that has received a significant share of the money for roads over the years, also one of the eight "builders" of the "Hemus" highway with a contract for 127 million leva. Contractor of part of the ill-fated renovation of the capital city center, for which it received sanctions for poor quality work.
The public contract for laying horizontal markings in the same area was won by DZZD "Belfray Traffic Technology", the contract for 35 million leva was signed on the last working day of the "Denkov" government and is valid until April 7, 2028.
The association includes "Belfray Bulgaria" AD and two Hungarian companies – "Közüti Solgaltato Es Kereskedelmi" and "Belfray Ut Korlyaltolt Felelyosegu Tarsaság". One of the two managers of "Belfry Bulgaria" - Kiril Lapin, is an Austrian citizen, and the North Data website shows a dozen of his businesses in Vienna, some in liquidation.
The Consortium "Storgozia 2023" - Lovech is responsible for maintenance and repair activities of the republican roads to the Pleven Regional Administrative District, which includes "Viastroy" - Lovech and "Patinzhenering" - Ruse. The contract was concluded on August 8, 2024, when Violeta Koritarova was the regional minister and managed the office of Dimitar Glavchev. The contract is valid until August 7, 2028.
Under another office - of Galab Donev, the contract for restrictive systems for roads for the Northwestern region was also concluded with the DZZD "Bezopasnost Zapad", which is valid until October 2025 - for 42.250 million leva (excluding VAT). The merger includes two Pernik companies - – "MLG" EOOD and "KMV Road Safety Systems", which has worked on significant infrastructure projects such as the "Trakia", "Lyulin" and "Struma" highways – LOT 2 and LOT 4, "Tsarigradsko Shose" blvd., etc.
What activities did the RIA assign to these companies for work on risky sections, including in Humata, and how they completed them – this information should also be publicly known.
No more children to kill
"Bulgaria no more children to kill" - under this banner, protests were announced in Sofia, Pleven and other places in Bulgaria on April 12.
After Siyana's death, some wheels and mechanisms in the broken state systems moved. Inspections, signs, signs, hearings in parliamentary committees - a familiar ritual after every such tragedy. Until there are no convictions, until there are no money returned, resignations and named responsibility, everything is a theater. Bulgaria will lose other children, if it only makes the road safe after the burial of a child.