BRATISLAVA, July 8, (WEBNOVINY) — The Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development has cut planned expenditures by more than 380 million compared with contractual prices and projects over the past twelve months. This represents approximately 0.5 percent of gross domestic product and EUR 70 per capita, reported Transport Minister Jan Figel (KDH) on Friday on the occasion of evaluating his first year on the ministerial post. Figel commented that it was a year of common sense for the ministry.
The transport minister believes that cost-cutting, moderation, and responsibility in the use of public sources are the first steps to recovery from the crisis. According to Figel, the ministry largely contributes to consolidation of public funds. He went on to say that achieving such large savings in the ministry speaks of a catastrophic condition of politics in the past.
The minister attributes the cost-cutting to a new, open and transparent approach to public tenders. In the first year of the current election term, the construction of 30 km of highways and dual carriageways was launched, while their prices are by tens of millions of euros lower than original state estimates and prices projected for overpriced PPP projects, the ministry states. The saved sources will be used to reduce the debt of the three state-run railway firms in the volume of almost EUR 1 billion and for a more efficient construction of highways and roads. The Transport Ministry was the first ministry to introduce e-auctions for the purchase of goods and services, which for railways companies alone reduced expenditures by EUR 4 million.
The transport minister halted two PPP projects for highway construction, prepared by the previous government, as they were overpriced. Figel claims that the decision not to continue the projects positively affected the sustainability of public funds.
SITA