The longest-awaited highway road project in Bulgaria, the Trakia Highway, again reminded of itself and its character. It was started back in 1973 and all previous governments since 2004 have been trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to complete it in full and thus boast they finalized the first freeway from Sofia to the Black Sea. The history will bestow this moment on July 15 to the Cabinet of Mr. Oresharski, although until recently it was not clear whether the inauguration ceremony will be held on that date.
The key section of 34 km between junction Zimnitsa and Karnobat, being constructed by consortium Trakia IV, with a leading company Holding Roads, had to be opened in February, but was postponed several times because of problems within the contractorrquote s operations. A few days ago the Construction Minister Desislava Terzieva disappointed thousands holidaymakers, saying Trakia might not be ready on time and the scheduled for July 15 opening will probably be put off again. As the official cause were listed the expertsrquote doubts in the quality of the asphalt paving. The main problem in this country is that we work that is done quickly is done poorly. It is not important who cuts the tape, it is important to build a quality road, pointed out Mrs. Terzieva.
Unofficially, the BANKER was told that the concerns about not meeting the fixed date have been caused mainly by the mess that arose from the formation of the new Ministry of Investment Projects. For opening Trakia the decree known as Act 16 has to be drawn by the Directorate National Construction Control that is to approve the route, and now this directorate is in a vacuum position between the Regional Ministry and that of the Investment Projects. As previously reported, the necessary amendments for this to happen affect 82 laws in which the state has to correct the names of as well as include the new department so that all required documents for major infrastructure projects may be properly issued. Apparently, these things will be decided on the move.
Act 15 has already been issued, which certifies completed construction works on site. State Acceptance Commission was appointed for issuance of Act 16. The commission will work even on weekends, so that next Monday – 15 July 2013 the last stretch of the road from junction Zimnitsa to Karnobat may be opened for automobiles, said last week Mrs. Terzieva.
President of the Management Board of the Road Infrastructure Agency, Lazar Lazarov, said that all work related to road construction has been completed and what now remains are small complementary activities such as the completion of the so-called rabbit fence as well as the final cleaning of the site.
In fact, even after opening the highway it will be much to talk about it. In the new areas between Chirpan and Burgas there are still no petrol stations, no food establishments where drivers can take a rest. A few dozens of kilometers of the route around Pazardzhik are yet to be repaired, where the asphalt does not meet the requirements and poses a speed limit of 70 kilometres per hour. Emergency repair is needed for the dangerous viaducts, too.
Of course, all this may look like slight handicaps on the background of what is happening with Maritza highway, which should take the traffic from Trakia to the border with Greece and Turkey. The highway, which is also funded by European funds, will not be completed by the end of this year and there is a high risk of losing the funds allocated to it (more than 163 million euros from Brussels). The biggest gap is the construction of the section from Dimitrovgrad to Harmanli which had to be ready by August this year. It turns out that there have been no work done on it since October 2012. After several warning letters to the contractor and the threat of termination of the contract the consortium between PST Holding and Austrian Porr resumed the construction works on June 26.
About the ownership of the PST Holding there are many white gaps. Until recently, the company was considered to be part of as part of Holding Roads, linked to businessman Vasil Bozhkov. However, as the BANKER weekly first wrote, on April 14 when the company held an extraordinary general meeting of the board of directors, there entered two new individuals – Ivan Krumlov Sharlandzhiev and Petko Ivanov Hitrov. The management of the company remains in the hands of its former boss – Ivan Ivanov, but he can now represent PST Holding only together with Ivan Sharlandzhiev. Sharlandzhiev himself is a representative of a British Virgin Islands offshore company Galliano Worldwide Limited, registered on 23 August 2012 and represented by Director Diana Andreu.
Accordingly, the minority shareholder in the PST Holding is DVTG Bulgaria JSC, owned by the Infra Holding also of the group Nove Holding of Vasil Bozhkov.
Because of the standstill the project was at the end of last year, representatives of Brussels urged for precautions, but a political decision to terminate the contract with the contractor and an appointment of a new one was never taken.
There is a delay in the construction of another section of Maritsa – from Orizovo to Dimitrovgrad, where the builder is the Italian CMCD Ravenna. A major subcontractor is Roads Plovdiv – owned by the socialist leader in the region of Plovdiv Georgi Gergov. The construction of this section was suspended for a total of 210 days due to archeological excavations and force majeure conditions from December 1, 2012 up until June 28 this year. This is the reason the deadline of the contract to be extended from November 2013 to June 2014.
To avoid a loss of EU funds for the Maritsa, the Minister of Regional Development Desislava Terzieva requested maximum mobilization of the contractors during the summer months and insisted that the highway be opened on time, but it is quite debatable whether this can happen.
There are lots of questions regarding the Struma highway project, too. Although now ready, the section from Dolna Dikanya to Dupnitsa (Lot 1) meets the same problems as Trakia, namely whether the construction ministry or that of investment planning ministry is to sign the documents for its official opening. Otherwise the contractor is a consortium between the Italian Impreza and Bulgarian GBS Infrastructure Construction and Patstroy 92.
These three companies were selected also for the route from Dupnitza to Blagoevgrad (Lot 2). The problem before the starting of the construction works is again an administrative one – delayed acquisition procedures and a non-existent building permit. There is also a delay in the last section of Struma between Sandanski and Kulata (Lot 4) because of newly engineering networks, whose displacement is the responsibility of the state. Minister Terzieva has ordered the contractor – the Greek Actor – to submit a revised schedule for the works to be sped up and the site to be completed by March 2014.
