Bulgaria-Turkey Border Fence 'Worth Less' Than Estimated

Miscalculations involving the fence which is to be constructed along the Bulgarian-Turkish border are worth around BGN 4 M.

Bulgaria's Defense Ministry has written up the total sum, thus increasing it from BGN 5.1 M to BGN 9.664 M.

The data from a report by the Inspectorate at Bulgaria's Council of Ministers, cited by Bulgarian newspaper Trud, has confirmed claims that the fence was significantly overpriced.

Defense Ministry officials first added BGN 1.589 M to what had been put aside for the border fence, explaining the money was to be spent on salaries, insurance, and food. Incidental expenses worth 10% of the total sum further caused the price to swell.

Another 20% for delivery and storage of raw construction materials, 10% of "profit" and 20% VAT pushed it up and reached over BGN 9 M.

Auditors by the Inspectorate also found stunning examples of "miscalculations", with some BGN 120 000 written up for constructions of different border fence segments.

The reports suggests that the cost of materials needed for the fence be re-evaluated and that Defense Ministry take the additional BGN 1.589 M it requested from its own budget.

The document cited by Trud was prepared after Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski asked in February that a full financial audit be conducted by the Ministry of Finance and the Inspectorate at the Council of Ministers.

Before his request, he had some tough discussions with Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev and Defense Minister Angel Naydenov over the end price of the border facility.

Short afterwards, in an interview for Bulgaria's public broadcaster BNT, Naydenov had asserted that “each eventual misuse of money for the construction of the...