Bulgarian state owes 250M to construction companies - minister

  Bulgaria's Regional Development Ministry owed 248 million leva to private construction companies,

including 175 million leva in debt accumulated by the National Road Infrastructure Agency (NRIA) alone,

Regional Development Minister Rossen Plevneliev told reporters on December 10 2009.

A large number of construction companies that are expecting to receive their money from the ministry were forced to withdraw large credits from banks towards the end of 2009 in order to keep themselves afloat.

"I hope that 150 million leva will be made available soon. I still hope that the Finance Ministry will forward this amount to us, but the bare minimum that I am expecting to receive is 25 million for winter cleaning operations and the 44 million, which is our Budget allowance," Plevneliev said as quoted by Focus.

"The Finance Ministry is bound to wire us at least that amount, anything above that would be more than welcome."

Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reported on December 9 2000 that the state's total debt to road construction companies amounted to about 250 million leva

The Cabinet discussed different ways in which the state can repay part of its obligations. One such initiative is that between 20 million leva and 30 million leva owed by the construction companies to the Government in the form of tax will be voided – or rather, they would be wired to the firms' bank accounts, only for the amount to be claimed immediately back by the National Revenue Agency.

The Regional Development Ministry's budget by the end of 2009 amounts to 44 million and should the Finance Ministry approve its use, some of that debt may be repaid to the industry. This way, the total amount of debt repaid to the road-construction industry may rise to more than 70 million leva.

It is expected that the Finance Ministry and the Association of Banks in Bulgaria to decide in January 2010 whether to issue bonds, whose proceeds would be used to cover more of the debt, BNT said.

              Source:  sofiaecho.com