The contracts for the guardrails were for 300 million leva, about 500 million leva were paid, there is an excess of almost 200 million leva, which is based on annexes. And in addition to everything else, another 16 million leva are paid in indexations. It happened in 2025. This was explained by Regional Minister Ivan Shishkov on Nova TV, commenting on the problems with the guardrails, which came to light after the recent serious accidents.
"The contracts were concluded for 6 regions with 4-5 companies, and the prepared proposal was to give all of Bulgaria to one company. "That was the order," he explained.
According to him, in the several accidents that have occurred in recent days, the impacts were quite atypical, and the guardrails were suitable for impacts of 20 degrees. The experts had to say what was the reason for the trucks entering in this way.
Shishkov ordered an inspection of the barriers installed in 2024 and 2025 and to clarify whether they comply with the certificate.
"We all see the ease with which the trucks pass through the barriers", he commented.
"At the moment they were preparing to give the order for the barriers to a company and for it to become a monopolist in Bulgaria", he also said.
When asked "who are these people", he explained that "they are the ones who made the tender documents at the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026"
"Which company is it, who stole how much - the answer must be to give the prosecutor's office", explained the regional minister.
He also announced that they had begun construction of the first lot of the "forgotten" highway from Ruse. The issue, however, was that when talking politically, the invisible part was missed, namely the legacy, which was the lack of highway projects. At the moment, companies were also "caught in the trap of that lawlessness that was".
According to him, the Kresna bypass would be ready in a year and a half, and the highway would also have to be designed. Asked about the 30% increase in vignettes, he said that a lot of money had to be spent on highways. Currently, what was spent on road maintenance was twice as much as what came in as revenue from tolls and vignettes. No matter how unappreciated the service was, it had its price.