According to him, from now on there will be round-the-clock security by the Ministry of Interior around military enterprises and warehouses
‘In 2018, the Council of Ministers approved resources for the repair of dams, an initial amount of BGN 500 million, and now we understand that over BGN 100 million more than originally approved has been spent. We are doing an accounting analysis to see how more is being spent from an originally approved budget. The second problem is the illegal construction of dams,’ the Minister of Economy Bogdan Bogdanov said in the Face to Face TV programme.
‘We are in a situation where the Ministry of Interior has commissioned the repair of 416 dams, subsequently 267 have been approved for initial repair. Subsequently, 52 were dropped because the owners refused for them to be repaired in this way,’ he explained.
‘We have 10 dams out of the 267 on record that have been formally handed over. No factual verification has been done as to whether these things have been done. 5 of these 10 dams have been transferred to the established enterprise of the Ministry of Economy. Upon inspection, 3 of these 5 dams had serious breaches. We do not have a single dam that has been completed with the necessary documentation, accepted and put into operation,’ Bogdanov added.
He also commented on the explosions a week ago in the ammunition warehouses of the company Emko, owned by arms dealer Emilian Gebrev, near Karnobat.
‘The military industry is key for Bulgarian industry. It employs 70,000 people directly. In the last one year, we have recorded an export growth of over 200%. It is key for us to make efforts to make the industry work well,’ Bogdanov said.
He emphasized that ‘we do not divide the industry into private and state. Everything we do will be valid for all enterprises of our military industry.’
According to him, there will be round-the-clock security by the MoI around the military enterprises and warehouses from now on.
For large investment projects there must be rule of law, stability and predictability, Minister Bogdanov said.
He also revealed about the so-called government complex, which was to be built on the territory of Sofia Tech Park and for which BGN 84 million was given. According to him, the only thing that has been implemented on this task is the conceptual design of 2021.
‘The question is why the money has not been returned to the State Consolidation Company and hence to the Bulgarian Development Bank. To date, the State Consolidation Company continues to suffer enormous damage because this is a loan,’ the Economy Minister said.
‘We have a significant state resource in the State Consolidation Company. Many problems were indicated two years ago. Specific institutions were alerted, there were reports. We have a significant state resource that has been spent without procurement,’ he added.
Minister Bogdanov expects growth in the economy and added that for the first four months of the year there was an increase in investments by 64 percent.
Inflation is declining, we forecast it to reach around 5.6% on average by the end of the year. It is normal for prices to go down at some point. In fact, wholesale prices have already gone down. However, the issue is not only about prices, but also about income growth so that people can afford more. Eventually, Bulgaria’s economy will develop, but if we want large investment projects, we must have the rule of law, stability and predictability, Minister Bogdanov concluded.