© Adelina Angelova, Sofia Municipality
– The new pedestrian bridge over the Suhodolska River to the West Park.
New sports and children’s playgrounds, and a new pedestrian bridge from “Lyulin 10” to the West Park have been opened as of today, the Sofia Municipality announced. The facilities are in the space between Petar Dertliev Blvd. and the Suhodolska River. There are green areas, sidewalks, pedestrian and bicycle lanes, benches and lighting on an area of 10 decares.
Fandakova: This is part of the program for creating new green spaces
The park area, which we connect with West Park, is part of the Program of Sofia Municipality for creating new green spaces and restoration of parks in our city, “said Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova during an on-site inspection together with Deputy Mayor for Construction Eng. Angel Dzhorgov and the regional mayor of “Lyulin” Milko Mladenov.
The pedestrian bridge has a steel structure, is 31 m long and passes over the river Suhodolska. A few meters from the alley network are to be completed, as well as a fence to the river. The planting of trees and shrubs has begun. The new trees are of the Lebanese cedar type, silver fir, white birch, catalina, linden, maple, plane tree. More than 100 species of shrubs will be planted.
Why the bridge was in the beginning “impossible to perform“
During the major renovation of the Western Park from June 2018 to March 2021, the Sofia Municipality requested from the Managing Authority of the project under OP “Growing Regions” (OPRD) the pedestrian bridge to drop out. The contractor Galchev Engineering refused to build it on the grounds that it was “impossible to implement“. For this reason, BGN 63,654 with VAT were deducted from the total budget for the repairs in the amount of BGN 11 million. This is how the most complex facility in the whole project was appreciated.
However, the renovated West Park was left without access by the 120,000-strong Lyulin, and at the beginning of the summer the Sofia Municipality ordered the development of a new project for a bridge. “We will finance it and the project will be different “, the municipality explained then, and the mayor of the region Milko Mladenov undertook to build it. Its price is already different – about BGN 300,000.
This is the more realistic price for a 31-meter bridge than the one deducted from the repair budget, designers commented. In projects with complex facilities, some contractors deliberately set low prices for them in the general budget. Their presumption is that if they do not fulfill them, the loss of the amount withheld will not be large, they explained the “tricks” practiced in the calculation of construction activities during repairs.
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