Bulgaria’s Regional Minister Ivan Shishkov
Bulgaria’s Regional Minister Ivan Shishkov has announced stricter oversight of the road sector, a review of construction and maintenance contracts, and expectations that prosecutors will determine how hundreds of millions of levs in advance payments were spent. He presented a timeline of contracts and amendments related to major projects, including the Hemus highway, the Vidin-Botevgrad road, and the maintenance of the national road network.
“We are opening the next page for the analysis of the road sector in Bulgaria. We are focusing on the facts that brought us to this situation - the contracts and annexes concluded,” Shishkov said.
Around 30 contracts have already been signed for major repairs of roads currently in poor condition. The minister stressed that the companies carrying out these projects were not selected under the current administration. He added that many public procurement procedures had been inherited, with some already at an advanced stage and others still awaiting the selection of contractors.
“We are introducing much greater control over the implementation of contracts,” Shishkov said, emphasizing that monitoring of road projects would be significantly strengthened.
