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© Municipality of Varna
The Varna Administrative Court ordered the director of the State Enterprise Port Infrastructure to provide Dnevnik with the denied information on how the Russian company Hydrostroy was selected without tender as a contractor for a BGN 350 million project. The denial was motivated by “secrecy”.
At the end of April this year, the government press center issued a brief statement announcing that the cabinet had authorized the work to deepen the two navigable channels that allow ships to reach Lake Varna and the port of Varna West from the sea. . A short time later, for just over a month, from May 4 to June 17 this year, the government gave permission to four ships owned by the Russian company Hydrostroy to operate in the country’s inland waters. It is they who must deepen the two navigable channels of the project, estimated at 350 million BGN.
Funding was first provided by the government for port infrastructure. For its part, the state company chose another state company, the sole proprietorship of Rehabilitación de Transportes y Construcción, without a tender. According to Dnevnik, he was the one who again, without public competition, chose the Russian Hydrostroy without competition and competition. However, Port Infrastructure imposed a total blackout on the terms of the contract with the Russian company, registered in the Kaliningrad enclave.
For this reason, Dnevnik requested a reference, which should contain a copy of the text of the agreement signed between Port Infrastructure and Transport Construction and Reconstruction, as well as information on the technical project on which the two navigable channels will be deepened in the future. Varna. With the same request under the APIA, a reference was requested on how “Transportation, Construction and Reconstruction”, whose main one is the Ministry of Transportation, has signed a contract for the deepening of the channels with “Hydrostroy” and what is the price to pay .
However, access to all of this information was denied on “trade secret” grounds, the disclosure of which would distort the competitiveness of the state trading company “Transport Construction and Reconstruction” and would have undesirable consequences for its business.
However, according to a court ruling issued at the end of last week, the refusal to request the information was unfounded because the State Business Port Infrastructure manages public transport ports of national importance and provides traffic management services and information of Shipping. It relies on the budget and the funds it spends on projects are public. The Varna Administrative Court supports the view that the information requested by Dnevnik is of primary public interest.
For these reasons, the court forced the Director General of the State Enterprise “Port Infrastructure” Angel Zaburtov to provide full access to the information requested by “Dnevnik” in May this year. This must be done within 7 days of receiving the court decision. The decision is not subject to a cassation appeal.
