site.btaDelay on Greek Side for Rudozem-Xanthi Border Checkoint Project Causes Bulgarian State Significant Losses

Due to the delay on the part of the Greek side of the project for the Rudozem-Xanthi border crossing, the Bulgarian state has suffered significant losses, said Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Andrey Tsekov during the parliamentary control.

 He said that the question of meeting the deadlines for the project was raised by the representatives of the Bulgarian ministry at the last meeting of the monitoring committee of the INTERREG Greece-Bulgaria programme, under which it is financed. The Minister assured the MPs that the topic will be put before the EC with an official letter. "We will also ask for a conversation on this topic," Tsekov added. 

On the financial issue, the Minister pointed out that it is a question of damage to Bulgaria's budget due to the inaction of the Greek partners. Tsekov called it  a "bond dispute" and explained that solutions are being sought in order to compensate these funds.

He recalled that Greece is the leading partner of the programme and pointed out that Bulgaria fulfilled its commitments as early as 2022, and on the Greek side, the 8-kilometre section to the border has not been completed. 

The Greek side has indicated that a procedure for selecting a new contractor for the unfinished road sections is currently underway and an implementation contract is yet to be concluded. The forecast is that the activities will be finalized by the end of 2023. Looking at the progress, Minister Tsekov exprseesd concern the border post will become redundant if Bulgaria enters Schengen within the next year.

From the completion of the site until now, Bulgaria directly spends funds for security, partial maintenance, electricity and others, which are paid by the regional administration of Plovdiv.

The security part of the facility has so far been provided in line with the project, the Minister said, but added that it is limited for a certain possible period. The additional necessary target costs from the state budget according to preliminary estimates amount to BGN 438,296 and they must be provided from the budget, the Minister said. Jest the funds for electricity are an estimated BGN 32,060. Since the appointment of employees at the border post, BGN 2.470 million  have been spent so far for salaries and travel expenses, as well as for electricity costs and other inherent activities, from August 2021 until June 2023, the Minister said.