In April, RIA commissioned an update of marking, but the money is stopped
While it was being built, the section between Daskalovo and Dolna Dikanya rose 4 times
The owner of 45% of the company that built the section is the Macedonian company “Mavrovo”
The remaining shares are owned by Business Management System EOOD, whose majority owner is the Bulgarian Blagoy Pishinov.
The section of the Struma highway where the tragic accident took place is one of the first road sections in Bulgaria affected by this year’s suspension of all current repairs on the grounds that the road agency’s budget has been exhausted, 24 Chasa found.
In principle, the renewal of the marking must be done every year by the company that has a contract for current repairs and maintenance of the road. For the first 56 kilometers of Struma, this is the state-owned Avtomagistrali EAD.
In April and May, the road agency actually commissioned Avtomagistrali to renew the marking of the section between Daskalovo and Dolna Dikanya, and the state-owned company approached Bitulait, with which it has a contract for the supply of paint and the rental of machines for laying it.
The general manager of Bitulait Anton Taskov told 24 Chasa that
has delivered
until July light
reflective
paint value
600 thousand levs
precisely for
this section
of Struma.
This money has not yet been paid to him, as it is in the process of certification, but the deadline for the contract has not yet expired, it will expire at the end of the year.
At the end of June, almost all current road repairs in Bulgaria were terminated on the grounds that the budget for this is only BGN 380 million, and they were spent in the first months of the year.
The Road Infrastructure Agency confirmed to 24 Chasa that they have commissioned the renovation of the marking of Motorways. This happened on April 21 this year. and the company had to update the horizontal marking in this section. But it is not clear from RIA’s response why this has not been done all summer. It says that “last week the dividing line between the active and the overtaking lane was renovated at the site.”
The Motorways themselves diverted the matter to the regional ministry, where they said a commission had already been appointed to check the condition of the road. Within 5 working days she must issue a report on the condition of the road surface, the signs, the fences and the markings.
According to road experts, the 18-kilometer section between Daskalovo and Dolna Dikanya, although not brilliant,
no one knows
what defects
if the constant danger of falling rocks and the insufficient strengthening of the surrounding slopes are excluded. Mostly there is no reverse slope of the bends, as claimed, and there is built-in drainage.
However, the disadvantage is the many turns and detours for some villages, which are made on old projects and often appear unexpectedly for drivers. The barriers are of the old type, at the moment they are being replaced all over the country, but this process is very slow.
The construction of the 18-kilometer section of the Struma highway between Daskalovo and Dolna Dikanya, where 45 Macedonian citizens lost their lives, is one of the most striking examples in our country of how road infrastructure should not be built. Because, while it is being built, this section has risen almost 4 times – from 26 million euros, which won the tender, to 98 million euros, which is the final bill.
The intention to build the Struma highway by the Summer Olympics in Athens in 2004 dates back to Kostov’s time, but then there were no funds for such a large-scale project. The NMSS decided to take a loan from the European Investment Bank, but the negotiations turned out that the money was still not enough for the highway, and when the Deputy Prime Minister and Regional Minister was Kostadin Paskalev, the decision was to expand the old two-lane road E79 with more one lane and the road to be able to allow traffic at 90 km per hour.
The bank has hired the French company Louis Berge as a consultant to organize an international tender, starting from the section between Daskalovo and Dolna Dikanya. The estimated value of the project is 25 million euros, and part of the money is provided under the PHARE program.
18 offers were received, and the Macedonian company Granit was ranked first. Its proposed price is 24,027,530 euros. Second is the Italian “Impreza Graceto”, whose price is 196,910 euros higher than that of the Macedonians. After them is ranked “Deutsche Asphalt” from Germany, which plays together with the Bulgarian companies “Granit 97” and “Patpribor”. The fourth is the Greek “Prodiftiki”.
Bulstroy Engineering is ranked fifth, which estimates that it can repair the road between Daskalovo and Dupnitsa for 26.8m euros. It was she who was chosen after a 9-month procrastination.
Bulstroy Engineering was registered in the Sofia City Court in May 2000 with a share capital of BGN 50,000. The owner of 45% of it is the Macedonian company “Mavrovo”. The rest of the shares are owned by Business Management System EOOD, whose majority owner is Blagoy Pishinov – the same man who in 2016 married his son Petko to Minyu Staykov’s daughter – Yana.
The company began to expand the section in 2003 on one project, but eventually completed its work only in 2007 on a completely different one.
Responsible for this is the then road agency, which in those years was renamed several times and passed now to the Ministry of Transport, now to the Ministry of Finance (during the time of Plamen Oresharski as Minister of Finance), now to the regional.
During all this turmoil, it was decided to redo the project and make the road 29 meters wide, ie. to acquire the dimensions of the highway. An old project, made in the years of socialism by “Patproekt”, was excavated and work on it began.
As in other similar cases, the problems begin. It turns out that
in the project
are missing
whatever
and yes either
road connections
with the surrounding villages. The builder wants another 6m euros to build detours. They find them with a year delay.
Then it turns out that the soil has a higher humidity than indicated in the project, which requires additional strengthening. It also absorbs an additional 10m euros, which are also not immediately available, but after about a year.
And so it was not until January 2007, when the section was finally ready and at the end of the month its ribbon was solemnly cut by the then Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and his Minister of Transport Petar Mutafchiev.
The final bill is already 98m euros, but that’s not the end of the problems. To obtain Act 16, i.e. for the road to be operated as a highway, the expropriations must be over, and they are not. It turns out that the cadastral maps are full of mistakes and people with real estate are claiming compensation in court, even though the route passes kilometers from their plots. In other cases, the road takes away the lands of people who cannot prove it, because according to the cadastre, their lands are elsewhere.
As there is no Act 16, this is not considered a highway and for a long time the speed limit there was 90 km per hour. Years later, it was raised to 120 km per hour.
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