site.btaRoad Construction Chamber Warns Adequate Road Maintenance, Repairs Agreement Threatened

Bulgarian Branch Chamber Roads is willing to continue the dialogue with the relevant authorities on the matter of current repairs and maintenance of the republican road network, the organization said on Monday.

Over the past months, the Chamber and its members have repeatedly alerted representatives of the Council of Ministers, the Regional Development and Urban Planning Ministry and the Road Infrastructure Agency about the problem of outstanding payments for completed works on the parts of the state.

The companies and the Road Infrastructure Agency have reached an agreement for pre-term cancellation of the maintenance contracts relevant to the republican road network. Schedules and commitments for payment of already completed and ongoing works were undertaken, but no steps for keeping these agreements have been undertaken yet, the Chamber recalls. 

The Chamber Board has sent a letter to Finance Minister Asen Vassilev and Regional Minister Grozdan Karadzhov insisting on a meeting to find a solution. An alert that funds for payment of the undertaken commitments have not been set aside in the National Budget Act for 2022 was also sent to the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, the Regional Development Minister and the parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee. The construction companies do not have the option of other financial instruments, the organization says. 

Recalling Karadzhov’s announcement of plans for repairs of over 3,000 km of Bulgaria’s road network, the Chamber expresses deep concern that such irresponsible behavior and disregard of agreements threatens the adequate fulfilment of commitments for road repairs and maintenance. Construction works without financial resources are impossible and would really endanger the national road network, which would inevitably mean economic consequences for the country, the Chamber points out.