“Novo 20” with repairing the broken pipeline across Lake Varna – Bulgaria

© Spas Spasov

After failing to meet any of the announced deadlines to repair the broken sewer pipe in Lake Varna, the administration of the city’s mayor, Ivan Portnich, surprisingly announced a new plan to deal with the crisis. This was announced by the municipal press center, but again a new deadline was not announced for the completion of the repairs, which began on May 21. Meanwhile, more than 3 million cubic meters of highly toxic fecal water has leaked into the lake and the bay of Varna for more than a year.

According to the press release, the renewed sections of the pipeline, which broke last year, will not be buried at the bottom of the lake for now, as the project envisages for their repair worth BGN 1.3 million. Also, it would be temporarily placed 25-30 meters from the predetermined route until the planned underwater trench is dug.

It is unclear when this will happen and what is the reason for the sudden change in plans. The report only indicates that the laying of the pipeline began after the deepening of the street and the waterway into the lake.

No plan and change in

True to his style of working on expensive infrastructure projects “in engineering” in mid-May, the administration of Varna Mayor Ivan Portnih has apparently started work on repairing the broken sewer pipe. without a clear work plan and without coordination with other projects, performed on Lake Varna at the same time.

In the same way, with financing “by eye” and without justification from the state budget, in 2013 5 million BGN was allocated for the resupply of 4 km. from the city boulevard “Vladislav Varnenchik”. It later turned out that this was planned to be done under another project with secured European funding, but the budget money had already been spent. No project or construction documentation in 2017. Work began on the rebuilding of Vasil Levski Blvd., which has become infamous for its misconceptions and poor quality. At least BGN 130 million was spent on it, making a kilometer from the boulevard 4 times more expensive than on the Hemus highway.

Even before local and national media reported at the end of April this year about Portnich and the concealment of toxic water leaks in Lake Varna by its administration, it was already officially announced that the state-owned company “Port Infrastructure” would start to deepen the navigable waters in early summer. canals across the lake. The budget for this 700-day project is BGN 350 million and has a direct connection to the Varna economy.

Mayor Portnich’s Accounts

That’s why There’s no way the local administration didn’t know about him. However, on May 21, Portnich told BNT: “The pipeline repair works will be completed in a month, month and a half. It is also ready to work at night so that it can be completed as soon as possible.”

© LiveVarna

Immediately after that, a platform and a floating excavation team appeared at the site of the damaged section of the pipeline. In a few days an island of sand and mud rose above the water, which for three months remained almost the same volume as at the beginning of the work. Meanwhile, Portnich and his deputy, Hristo Ivanov, explained that nothing to know what is happening in the lake as fecal water flowed into it even before the construction of the damaged pipeline in 2011. But the pollution problem quickly became visible even from space.

All about the accident and the reasons that led to it, here.
What questions arose from the murky bottom of Lake Varna? Here.

Simple questions

When announcing their new work plans on the repair of the damaged submarine channel by the Varna municipal administration, they maintained an important explanation. He had to answer the question why, since the bottom of the lake was known to deepen, the technique of digging a trench in it worked at a standstill for three months? And how much did that cost?

For the moment, the questions remain at the expense of who will they be and who will cover the expenses of the unforeseen laying of the repaired pipeline on a new route and its subsequent relocation in a ditch, which has not yet been dug. And more: how and on the basis of what quantitative value represents the repairs exactly BGN 1.3 million were allocated.

A series of Dnevnik investigations into the case showed that the pipe was laid at the bottom of the lake without being buried in it. For this reason, probably in the spring or summer of last year. passing ships interrupted him. Although it was informed about the accident on August 21, 2019, the administration of the mayor of Varna, Ivan Portnih, reported about it only 10 months later, and only after the problem was made public through publications in the media.

Regarding the accident, in response to questions posed by MEP Radan Kanev a month ago, the EU Commissioner for the Environment, Virginius Sinkevičius, reported that Varna is one of the agglomerations in Bulgaria that violates the Water Treatment Directive urban residuals. However, in late July, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said that “in the Varna region the sea is 100% ideal for swimming.”