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Figel: Slovakia to Continue Building Motorways
Monday 18 Octtber 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, October 18 (TASR) - Transport Minister Jan Figel on Monday gave assurances that the Government and his ministry will continue to build motorways and in a cheaper and more efficient fashion than the previous government.
Marking one hundred days in office, Figel said that motorway construction under the former government was entirely based around public-private partnership (PPP) projects, which led to overcharging and made the process unmanageable.
"Had all three PPP projects been implemented, the people of Slovakia would have been paying back €700 million each year for 30 years, which exceeds the amount invested in road building to date," he said. Slovakia would have thus followed the path of Greece, which is now unable to repay its overdue debts.
According to Figel, commercial banks usually lend money to Slovakia at an interest rate of 4 percent, but in the case of PPP projects it reaches 12 percent.
Figel stated that his ministry has made public tendering procedures more transparent by conducting them electronically. It was mainly tenders launched by the rail companies that were overcharged in the previous term.
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