Road construction companies threaten to halt repair and maintenance works

Road construction companies stop repairing and maintaining roads. They are unhappy that the budget update does not include funds to pay for work already done. Outgoing Regional Development Minister, Grozdan Karadzhov, urged the road builders not to stop work because it would endanger safety.

The road builders say the state owes them BGN 520 million for works which have already been done. That is why they are stopping the ongoing maintenance of roads in the country and will seek the money in court.

With the obvious lack of funding we will be forced to stop. Moreover, after the report of the inter-ministerial group we will have to stop the activities that have been assigned by the current management of the Road Infrastructure Agency, from the current budget, for which there is funding, until we receive a clear document from the state that these activities that have been assigned to us are legal, said Eng. Stefan Chaikov, Branch Chamber "Roads".

Outgoing Regional Development Minister Grozdan Karadzhov urged road builders not to abandon their sites because of political problems.

Hundreds of sites are currently being worked on across the country, my biggest fear is that because of narrow partisan interests this hysteria will be fanned and it will get to the point that road construction companies will withdraw from the repairs. Abandonment would mean endangering the safety of travellers on Bulgarian roads.

The industry chamber described yesterday's report on the work done on the roads so far, which was prepared by a commission between the finance and regional ministries, as a "complete lie".

Our protests will be most elementary. We will simply stop the work on the repair and maintenance of Bulgarian roads, which will automatically reflect on all hauliers, drivers and road users, said Eng. Lazar Lazarov, branch chamber "Roads".

According to the signed contracts, by the end of June the road companies should receive all the sums owed to them by the state. If this does not happen, from July they will seek their rights in court and if they condemn the state, this will burden the budget with an additional 200 million BGN.