Caretaker Minister of Regional Development: Unlawful construction found in three sections of Hemus motorway

Caretaker Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, arch. Violeta Komitova and caretaker Minister of Economy, Kiril Petkov, on September 9 gave a joint press conference on the topic of "Unlawful Construction".

The reason for the meeting is a statement from the caretaker minister of regional development about unlawful construction on the Hemus motorway. Out of 9 inspected sections, violations were found in three of them - in the road junction "Pleven" and the road junction "Letnitsa".

"My first inspection was at a road junction on section 6, where there is a famous car dealership, which I found with expensive, shiny and brand new construction equipment. We found unlawful construction there. Then we received a signal from the Forestry, a few weeks later, about illegal embankments, from “Hemus” motorway on the territory of the forest. Some 187 decares of forest were destroyed. We had to go and see what damages have been caused to the nature, who dug and who did something during this construction," the regional development minister said.

The press conference was also attended by the head of the Directorate for National Construction Control, arch. Vladi Kalinov, as well as the Deputy Minister of Regional Development, arch. Ivan Shishkov. Caretaker Minister Komitova explained that she had assigned a check to be carried out by the Independent Construction Control Directorate.

The report had to be made first on Hemus, on site, to check the whole route. Hemus motorway consists of 9 sections, sections 1, 2 and 3 are being built with a building permit, we found unlawful construction at sections 4, 5 and 6. Sections 7, 8 and 9 still have an unclear route", specified Komitova.

When asked by BNT how Hemus Motorway will continue to be built given these violations, Komitova answered:

"Under these conditions, it is very difficult to say how the construction will go on, because in section 4, a company has been digging, hauling land, digging on inalienable properties. Questions arise as to why the owners are not reacting. We have, in practice, an anonymous builder. whom we cannot seek any responsibility, and therefore we have no guarantee of quality."

In construction, lawful means having a building permit, said the minister. She explained that illegal construction at dams was established by the caretaker Minister of Economy, Kiril Petkov, who also assigned an inspection to the Independent Construction Control Directorate.

Petkov announced details of the inspection of the dams. More than 416 dams need repair. In ten of them such has already been done, but he said that in all ten there are no documents for repair of the dam wall.

In case of an accident, it is not known who will be responsible, so the caretaker Minister of Economy said that he would send the documents to the Prosecutor's office and there would be dismissals in the State Consolidation Company.