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© Velko Angelov
The complexity and integrity of the national toll system, much more serious than previously foreseen, is the reason why the State cannot manage its management alone and deliver 141 million in the next five years to a private company, he said today the Minister of Regional Development. Petya Avramova development within parliamentary control.
His response was about questions from the BSP deputies, who emphasized that initially the idea was that all service activities were carried out by the regional ministry and the Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA), and now an annex is proposed with the amount cited .
As an example of the complexity, the Minister pointed to the simultaneous maintenance of two different electronic road pricing methods – based on time – electronic vignette, and based on distance traveled – toll. The second unique feature is that the Bulgarian toll system combines all known law enforcement models, automatically and through three parallel bodies: the Road Infrastructure Agency, the Ministry of the Interior and the Customs Agency in border areas.
The third essential functionality is the maintenance of your own area (domain) to process card payments (including fuel cards) without the mediation of a commercial bank. Avramova believes that the Bulgarian electronic toll system is evaluated by international experts as a modern technological solution without analogues in Europe.
Avramova clarified that it is about BGN 28 million a year, and there is a possibility that after the first two years the contract will be terminated. He added that according to a World Bank report, the acquisition of the know-how that manages the toll system by the contractor “Kapsh Traffic Solutions” of RIA will take about 5 years. The minister said that the state agency would also acquire the copyright to the software.
Avramova clarified that there is no annex to the contract with the system contractor to settle the additional payments. The unannounced negotiated procedure began in August.
Parliament will debate toll policy
Members of the BSP were not satisfied with the response and described it as too general, similar to a presentation at a business forum. At his request, discussions on toll policy reform are scheduled for December 18 for parliamentary scrutiny.
Petya Avramova noted today that nearly BGN 753.60 million of electronic vignettes and tolls have been collected so far from the toll system. Of these, the contribution of car vignettes is almost BGN 650.25 million. Toll revenues in the period from March 1 to December 8 are almost BGN 103.35 million. Route maps are the preferred payment method for small carriers and transit passengers.
Vignette and tolls revenues are 6% lower
The regional minister noted that during the state of emergency between March 13 and May 13, monthly revenues were around BGN 10.5 million, compared to the projected 30 million BGN. For June, July and August, the amount reaches almost 12 million BGN. is the revenue from vignettes and toll fees this year by 6% more than in 2019.
