Sat, Feb 11 2012

EC to release funding for Bulgaria’s Lyulin motorway

Tue, May 12 2009 11:40 CET

byDnevnik.bg

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EC to release funding for Bulgaria’s Lyulin motorway

Just short of 20km, Lyulin Highway will link Sofia to the Greece-bound Strouma Highway

Photo: Krassimir Yuskesseliev

The European Commission is expected to announce on May 12 a decision to unfreeze 115 million euro under the Ispa pre-accession aid programme, allocated for the construction of Lyulin motorway near Sofia and technical support for the preparation of road projects, the Government’s press office said.

EC blocked the money on July 23 2008, following revelations about a conflict of interest and fraud at the National Road Infrastructure Fund (NRIF), which was later on restructured into an agency controlled directly by the Cabinet.

Moreover, the EC forced Bulgaria to pass a conflict of interest law and amend its public procurement legislation.

Sofia imposed a financial sanction of 652 000 euro and carried out several audits at the roads agency, giving the EC grounds to renew the financing.

Meanwhile, the Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister in charge of EU Funds, Meglena Plugchieva, and experts of the roads agency checked the ongoing renovation of the Sokolovtsi – Smolyan – Srednogortsi road, which is financed with 10.6 million euro under the Phare pre-accession programme of the European Union.

An audit by KPMG identified a possible conflict of interest at the contractor, Entechnos, which comprises Greek companies Entechnos and Actis as well as Bulgarian firm Avtomagistrali-Cherno More. One of the managers of Entechnos is the father of former NRIF head Atanas Dimov.

Source: Dnevnik

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