site.btaTransport Ministry Overhauls Automobile Administration, Legislation After Corruption Scandal

Transport Ministry Overhauls Automobile Administration, Legislation After Corruption Scandal

Sofia, April 13 (BTA) - The Transport Ministry is overhauling the automobile administration and the applicable legislation after a corruption scandal earlier in April led to several arrests, including that of the head of the Automobile Administration Agency. This transpired from remarks for the press by Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski on Wednesday. He also said that Prime Minister Boyko Borissov does not want his resignation over the corruption scandal. "We have discussed the matter with the Prime Minister and my resignation is not on the agenda at the moment," said Moskovski.

His resignation was demanded by the Right-wing Democrats for Strong Bulgaria following the arrests in the Automobile Administration.

Moskovski said that the events in the Automobile Administration put a bad smear on his Ministry's image.

He also said that the political leadership of the Ministry has zero tolerance for corruption practices. He added that there is reason to say that too much power is concentrated in a single authority and this causes "a fault in the system", to use his words.

There have been attempts during the past year to remove some activities from the Automobile Administration portfolio but they have failed, the Minister added.

He further spoke of a plan to split the effective Road Transport Act three ways, with a separate law for driving lessons, qualification and testing, and the driving schools; for the types of vehicles; and a third for road traffic.

The three bills have been in the pipeline for five-six months and the corruption scandal at the Automobile Administration will likely step up their adoption by enhancing an agreement among the political parties in Parliament that these measures need to be taken, Moskovski commented.

A transport qualification centre is being built under the Transport Ministry where all the driving knowledge and skill tests will be held. The test itself will be held in electronic format and will take place in a white room which is totally isolated and free of any subjective influences.

One measure which is being considered as part of the counter-corruption efforts is to introduce an option for viewing the driving exams on Internet by the broad public. The proposal is currently being reviewed by law experts.

Moskovski said that the whole Automobile Administration structure is being shaken up. 25-30 of a total of 1,200 employees were discharged in the past couple of days.

He also said that there is readiness to transfer the administration of most permits and licences to the sectoral organizations as per a transport sector bill which is going to be submitted to Parliament very soon.

Asked about the progress of the concession procedure for the Sofia Airport, the Minister said that the regional authorities are in the process of issuing title deeds for public state property for the land that will be included in the concession. This is expected to be done in the next seven to ten days.

Moskovski said that there is a political decision to privatize the freight arm of the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) and now the competent authority on this matter is the Privatization Agency.