BRATISLAVA, January 5, (WEBNOVINY) – In the previous election term, 122.8 kilometers of highways and carriageways instead of the originally planned 250.9 were open for drivers. The four-year plan of the former government of Robert Fico (SMER-SD) was thus fulfilled at 48.9 percent. In this period, 87.6 kilometers of highways (15.6 kilometers only in half-profile) and 35.2 kilometers of dual carriageways (16.9 kilometers in half-profile) were put into operation. In 2007 – 2010, construction of 118.1 kilometers of highways and dual carriageways was launched, 32.6 percent of the planned 361.5 kilometers, reads the report of the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development on fulfilling the program of preparation and construction of highways and dual carriageways in the previous election term.
The Cabinet plans to discuss the material at one of its next sessions. The report is also a starting point for a program of preparation and construction of highways and carriageways for 2011 to 2014, which the ministry plans to submit to the cabinet until the end of April 2011. The plan was not fulfilled mostly because of insufficient project preparation and the decision to build well prepared sections of D1 and R1 via the public-private partnership (PPP), although their financing from the Operational Program Transport (OPD) would have been much easier. On the other hand, sections with a significantly lower state of project preparation were preferred, causing a delay in drawing funds from the OPD, argues the transport department.
Fulfilling the time schedule of the program was conditioned among other on the successful implementation of PPP projects. The decision to build some 150 kilometers of the most important D1 and R1 section implementing three large PPP packages has been proven wrong, according to the ministry. “This meant that the preparations of other sections of highways and dual carriageways lagged behind and some projects, bound in the PPP packages, could not be carried out, in spite of high readiness already in 2008. On the other hand, projects, which could have been financed from European resources, were not realized as a result of neglected preparation and also poorly prepared tenders, which is associated with critically insufficient utilization of EU funds resources from the OPD,“ stated the Transport Ministry. In 2007, Robert Fico promised that the highway from Bratislava to Kosice would be completed in 2010.
The main intention of the new highway program for the next four years will be to provide a sufficient amount of prepared projects, so that the funds available could be utilized for building the priority sections according to the government program from July 2010.
SITA
