Eng. Pirin Penchev: Roads are a Service to Society and the Economy. We Мust Care for Our Нouse as a Good Householder

Roads are a service to society and the economy, they contribute for the business to work and produce. It should be understood that we must care for our house as a good householder, eng. Pirin Penchev said to BNT. He stressed that unfortunately the road system is underfunded by more than 20 years and the shortage of financial resources for maintenance of the national network is considerable.

According to the World Bank Study cited by him, each dollar that is not timely invested leads in the next year to the necessity to invest new 5 dollars. "If you are consistently late to preventive repairs, with the launch of emergency activities, things will become worse," said Eng. Penchev.

Inspection, commissioned by RIA of all 34 tunnels along the national roads, shows that 16 facilities have moderate and high risk. The two tunnels near Veliko Tarnovo, Lovech bypass, facilities Vitinya, Echemishka and Topli dol of Hemus motorway are in a poor condition. Eng. Penchev explained that part of the measures aiming at securing the facilities will be taken immediately through current repair programs. This applies to tunnels that have no serious structural damages and need strengthening (shotcreting) of the reinforcement. Tunnels that need strengthening of the construction will be subject to inspection and passportization, which will serve the next stage of the terms of reference for technical design of  the project. The facilities that are not safe for drivers will be closed after the prescriptions made by the special inter-ministerial groups consisting of representatives of the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Interior, he emphasized.

Upon completion of the repair and opening for the traffic of the tube to Varna of Echemishka tunnel, rehabilitation works will start on the tube to Sofia, meanwhile searching for additional funds for this activities, eng. Penchev said. He stressed that in the Agency and in the transport branch work highly quailified experts and expressed his gratitudes to the road companies for their 5-day and 24-hour work enabling the launch of traffic as soon as possible through Echemishka. Let's not cloud the road branch, which in recent years built new roads, tunnels and bridges. I'll be the last judge of the system. The problem is not the people but rather the lack of funds, summarized eng. Penchev.