More than 1 billion leva was lost because of decisions related to the Hemus highway project, according to Bulgaria’s Regional Development and Public Works Minister Ivan Shishkov. Speaking to bTV, he said that a single day in which advance payments were allowed to be distributed had a major financial impact on the state.
“In 2018, 2019 and 2020, large amounts of money were distributed in the form of advances,” Shishkov said. He explained that a regulatory change allowed advance payments exceeding 20% of the value of contracts, with some payments reaching more than 100,000 leva.
“This one day cost the state more than 1 billion leva,” the minister stated, arguing that funds were transferred before the necessary planning and design work for sections of the Hemus highway had been completed.
According to Shishkov, the state had presented the process as an effort to accelerate infrastructure development, but the result was that companies received significant advances while parts of the highway were still not properly designed.
“The state supposedly decided to develop infrastructure projects, but in fact it developed some companies with advances, while the lots of Hemus had not yet been designed,” he said.
