While Bulgarian drivers maneuver between potholes with skills worthy of an Olympic slalom, it became clear that up to a third of the asphalt that should cover our roads disappears along well-trodden corruption paths.
Former Minister of Construction, Arch. Ivan Shishkov, revealed to "Telegraph" that accredited laboratories with international experience have identified blatant cases of outright theft from the road surface. The most striking example is the Northern Expressway in Sofia, where the wearing asphalt layer was a full third thinner than planned in the project.
"The big problem in our country since 2015 "... the traditional investment process in the following order has been broken: design, detailed development plans, expropriations, implementation. The practice of so-called engineering, in which the builder also deals with the design, has become widespread. This has been proven to be a bad practice, because the builder most often designs the road in such a way that it is cheaper for him," explained arch. Shishkov.
Construction companies save on absolutely everything - from the crushed stone base to the thickness of the guardrails, from the quality of the marking paint to road signs with poor light reflectivity. According to sources from several construction companies, the reason is simple and well-known - every public procurement for roads over 500,000 leva is "arranged" in advance, and 15% of the funds are returned "under the table" to the well-oiled machine of officials and politicians.
A representative of a large construction company told "Telegraph": "This has always been the case since the beginning of the transition and is considered a normal part of the game in the industry. The problem, however, is that even with this corruption deduction in the past, there was strict control by the road agency and the technical specifications for the roads were generally respected. For about 10-12 years, however, the control has been progressively deteriorating and now there are huge deviations."
The price of this corruption is not measured only in millions of stolen leva, but also in human lives. The head of the Association of Accident Victims Vladimir Todorov explains the direct connection between bad roads and accidents: "Imperfect roads lead to poor drainage of water from the road. This leads to aquaplaning and easy loss of control over the steering even at the speed limit. This is how cars and trucks spin, which leads to tragedies."
It was under such conditions that the tragic accident near Pleven occurred, which took the life of 12-year-old Siyana. Preliminary data indicate that numerous bumps in the road, patches with different relief and a polished wear layer of the asphalt coating contributed to the incident, although the truck was driving at excessive speed.
The reaction of the institutions was predictably bureaucratic – the head of the "Road Infrastructure Maintenance" Directorate in the RIA Daniel Ivanichkov and an official from the regional road department in Pleven were dismissed by order of the Minister of Construction Ivan Ivanov.
The father of the deceased child, Nikolay Popov, welcomed the removal of Ivanichkov, whom he called "The piggy bank", and called for a full investigation: "This person is primarily to blame for the tragedy with Siyana, as well as dozens of serious road accidents in the country. Over the years, he has even commanded the RIA Board with verbal orders and threats. The prosecutor's office is on its way!"
Meanwhile, arch. Shishkov expressed serious doubts about the recently announced tender for the section of the Byala - Veliko Tarnovo highway, in which a price of 50 million leva per kilometer is set: "Who and how determined this price, given that there is no technical project, no expropriations have been carried out, and the financing is not clear? For me, this rush to hold an auction now, without these things being clear, creates a strong suspicion that this is a corruption scheme."
Source: www.dunavmost.com