site.btaTransport Committee Chair Favours Merger of Traffic, Road Transport Administration, National Toll Administration

Kiril Dobrev MP of BSP-United Left, Chair of the Parliamentary Transport and Communication Committee, said in a statement Wednesday that he favours a merger of the existing Traffic Police, Road Transport Administration and National Toll Administration into a single control authority. 

Earlier in the day, talking to journalists in the National Assembly, Floor Leaders Boyko Borissov of GERB-UDF and Delyan Peevski of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning called for the closure of the Road Transport Administration after reports that employees of the agency extorted truck drivers delivering stage equipment for an upcoming concert of British star Robbie Williams in Sofia. 

"Let's just close it down", said Peevski, in the lobby of the National Assembly, supporting Borissov. He added that it will be considered where to transfer the agency, the Ministry of Interior being one option. 

Dobrev pointed out that this idea is not new and has been discussed with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Transport. According to Dobrev, it is unusual for a truck to be halted by three or four different authorities.

"Just like we set up a single system of the municipal cameras and those of Traffic Police while the fines are issued by Traffic Police alone, we should have a sole authority in charge of road traffic control," he stressed. "I am waiting for the concept of the Council of Ministers, which will be reviewed by the Transport Committee," the MP said.

Dobrev explained that this sole authority should bring together the Traffic Police, the Road Transport Administration and the National Toll Administration.