site.btaContinue the Change Sees Potential Corruption Scheme in Motorway Construction Procurement Call

The Continue the Change party has warned about what it sees as a potential corruption scheme in a procurement call published by the Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA) on Tuesday. The invitation to tender was placed for a 60-kilometre section between the towns of Byala and Veliko Tarnovo (Central Bulgaria), part of a motorway linking Ruse (on the Danube) and Veliko Tarnovo.

Andrey Tsekov MP of Continue the Change Wednesday said the section is worth an estimated BGN 3 billion, or BGN 50 million per kilometre. A contract for the first, 76-km section of the motorway awarded in 2022 was worth BGN 1.5 billion. Citing official statistics, Tsekov said the inflation factored in in the cost of road construction projects does not exceed 30%, which brings the realistic cost of the third section to BGN 25 or 26 million per kilometre. He concluded that the balance of BGN 24 million was "a corruption surcharge per kilometre" - money which will allegedly be spent non-transparently.

"We are likely to see the contract awarded at the maximum price," said Tsekov, who talked about "a scandalous corruption scheme". He sees no need to proceed with the engineering - design - construction principle. A reasonable approach would be to award a design contract only, he said, adding that the current method harked back to the three cabinets headed by GERB leader Boyko Borissov.

For his part, Continue the Change co-leader Kiril Petkov urged Regional Development Minister Ivan Ivanov and Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov to explain what is going on.

On Tuesday, RIA said construction of the Ruse-Veliko Tarnovo Motorway is a priority for the Agency and for a number of national and European institutions. The future motorway will link the countries of Northeastern Europe, via Romania and Bulgaria, with Greece and Turkiye, as well as the Baltic and the Mediterranean Sea.