Bulgaria's Motorway Barriers Among the Most Expensive in Europe, Says Minister of Interior

Motorway safety barriers in Bulgaria are significantly more expensive than those in Greece and Germany and are likely the most expensive in Europe, Minister of Interior, Ivan Demerdzhiev, said on June 30. According to him, this is because only two companies in Bulgaria have been winning public contracts for the supply and installation of roadside restraint systems.

Ivan Demerdzhiev, Minister of Interior: "I suspect that the former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov is the figure behind these two companies. Those connections can be examined in detail, but we need to start calling things by their proper names and telling the truth. It's not that frightening – it doesn't hurt."

Demerdzhiev also said the two companies had been operating at substantially inflated prices.

Ivan Demerdzhiev, Minister of Interior: "There is evidence that the prices at which the barriers were supplied in Bulgaria were significantly higher than the normal market prices for such equipment. There is also evidence that every effort has been made to exclude competitors other than the two companies I mentioned from public procurement procedures for a long period of time. I am certainly not referring only to the most recent contract."