Sega: Brussels Notes Turkish Blackmail on “Lyulin”

By Sega Daily. Turkish company "Mapa-Chengiz", the builder of Lyulin Highway, is blackmailing Bulgaria Road Fund, a mission of the European Parliament noted. A research group for the Budgetary Control Committee at EP gave account of its impressions which partially spared our authorities but rebuked the Turkish executors of the Lyulin project. ISPA funding for the project has been frozen.

The deadline for putting the stopped 111 million euros into use is 2010. In order to keep it, the builders will have to increase their capacity three or four times. The Turkish however pressure the Road Fund for more money, justifying their demands with the rising prices of fuel and materials.

"Since the contract has been based on a fixed price for its implementation, the current situation is comparable to extortion", the document says. The monitoring mission also found that "pressured by dead-lines, the Road Fund is in a weak position" - that stops it form imposing the penalties foreseen in the contracts in case of delays in implementation. "It would be normal to remove the executor", the report states.

The European Parliament has not drawn any reports on Bulgaria since it entered the EU. This is the first assessment of the two years of membership. The European MPs support all the negative remarks of the Commission's reports form July 23rd which resulted in freezing 825 million euros.

To unblock the funding it is recommended that Bulgaria "significantly strengthen its monitoring and supervisory mechanisms" especially in public procurement both on national and local level.

In respect of fight against corruption it is insisted that "people of high standing should be prosecuted and severely punished, their assets frozen and seized". Prosecutor General Boris Velchev is cited, assuring that over 60 accusations have been brought against important people but society still had the feeling for spreading corruption in spite of the obvious signs for its decrease.