site.btaProjects for Road Construction, Maintenance at Risk of Stopping, Branch Chamber Warns

The projects for road construction and maintenance of the republican road network in Bulgaria are at real risk of non-implementation and forced discontinuation, reads a position of Bulgarian Branch Chamber Roads (BBCR) received by BTA on Monday. The BBCR writes that it has been warning all state institutions about the gravity of the problems in the road construction sector but no adequate decisions have been taken.

If adequate actions are not taken and the problems in the country's road sector are not resolved by the the power holders by June 30, the companies in the sector will be forced to stop their work on all projects, the position reads further.

Following a series of negotiations, protests and a resolution of the National Assembly, the State represented by the Road Infrastructure Agency unfroze the payment of 50% of the sums overdue under the contracts for current repairs and maintenance. The payment of the remaining sums was tied to a check on the contracts' implementation by an interdepartmental working group. The check was supposed to finish on May 7 but there still is no result from it.

According to the position, the events from the last days and the incumbents' actions show that there is no political will to handle the problems in the road construction branch. The inaction of the state institutions and the power holders will lead to hundreds of millions of leva in losses for the State.

The situation for the branch is further exacerbated by the daily increase in the inflation rate, the appreciation of construction materials, the crisis with energy supplies, high fuel prices, and the impact of the war in Ukraine. 

The BBCR warns that ever more companies inform it of being decapitalized, unable to work under contracts at old prices and being faced with pressing implementation deadlines.