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ACTS Post opinions with a wide range of perspectives to encourage constructive discussion.
“Although all parties think about elections, I am first a statesman and then a political leader. The behavior of the state requires thinking first about the next generations and then about the next elections.” This is what the Prime Minister has written these days after another inspection of a section of road under construction. In other words, this is not the time for resignations and early elections. Although, as he himself has repeatedly stressed, ruling in such a situation brings many negative aspects. Which can be seen more and more clearly in sociological research.
So what is this self-sacrificing attachment to power for? Different answers are possible, some of which are far more prosaic than the high-flown thoughts of the Prime Minister. One of them is rolling where the prime minister’s jeep is going: on roads under construction.
Is 1.1 billion BGN a lot or a little?
What do you think, a lot or a little is 1,100 million leva for 66 kilometers of road on the Danube plain? Almost the same number of days were allotted for the construction of a section of the Vidin-Botevgrad highway. The question has no answer because there is no basis for comparison. There would be if the contract was awarded after an open public tender. But it was not.
This is another case in which the government takes advantage of a loophole (rather a big door) in the Public Procurement Law, allowing direct award without bidding. As long as the contractor is 100 percent state owned. The door was left with the explanation that it will be used for some public services, such as garbage collection. But it turned out that the goal is different – some of the largest sites built with money from the state budget (with European funds, this number, of course, can not pass). Thus, now the almost 66 kilometers in question were transferred directly and without tender to the state company “Autopistas”.
A very well kept secret
However, this is not the end of the problem. Because the company in question has neither the people nor the equipment necessary to carry out such a project. At the same time, the law strictly prohibits you from using subcontractors. But the way around this “inconvenience” has long been paved as well: so-called external service contracts with private companies, for example for the rental of equipment or for the sale of construction materials. However, who these “service providers” are is a closely guarded secret.
Thus, in practice, the state-owned company first receives huge funds, without it being clear how much construction of the site actually costs, and then redistributes these funds “in the dark”, without it being clear who receives how much money and for what work.
Orders for 4.5 billion
As it turned out, the road section in question was not the first contract awarded in this way to Avtomagistrali. Previously, there were two contracts for sections of the Hemus highway, under perpetual construction, for a total of over BGN 2.6 billion. Here we can see how the price per kilometer gradually increased: in the first Hemus contract it was about 10 million, in the second, 15.5 million, and now, with the order of the Vidin-Botevgrad highway, it already exceeds 16 million . At the same time, it should be noted that the construction of road sections, awarded through open public bidding, is significantly cheaper.
The same state company was commissioned to repair the section of the Trakia highway between Chirpan and Stara Zagora (known as the “wave highway”). There it turned out that the repair will cost more than the construction of the site. He also carries out the never-ending “favorite” repairs of Hemus viaduct and tunnel conductors (the Vitinya tunnel repair almost fetches the price of a new tunnel). It was also assigned to strengthen 74 landslides worth BGN 500 million (only one has been going strong for almost a year). Thus, the total value of the orders received by the company directly and without competition already exceeds 4,500 million BGN, committed in advance from the state budget.
The sweetness of power
During the three months of protests, one of the most frequently asked questions is why the government has clung to power so tightly, when obviously, as they themselves claim, it brings them so many negatives. One possible answer lies in this ideal scheme of circumventing the competitive principle in public procurement and the completely opaque spending of billions of public funds. In addition to being a source of pride and endless boasting about what has been built for “next generations”, the road construction obviously brings some positives, so the burdens of power are worth shouldering.
Author: Yasen Boyadzhiev
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