Interview with Deputy Prime Minister Grozdan Karadzhov for “Trud”, conducted by Pavlina Zhivkova.
Will digitalization of driver courses halt the issue of driving licenses to uneducated people and those with a lack of training? Will there be changes in intercity bus services and will old and dilapidated buses and trains disappear? This is what we asked Transport Minister Grozdan Karadjov.
We ask him if and when green organizations will stop infrastructure projects for billions of BGN.
– You have been talking about the digitalization of driving courses for a long time, this time it has to happen. Does digitalization mean the end of fake driving licenses?
– The goal of digitalization in driving courses is to guarantee to society that the training has been conducted properly. This means that people who have completed driving courses, to formally conduct at least part of the lectures or practical exercises. The digitalization will show whether the training and the trainee are in one place every school hour. Because modern technologies allow with the help of a camera and a smart device to establish the location of both at one and the same place. The course will be signed upon the exact location and time of the lesson. For practical training, the GPS will show the address, where it starts, the route corresponding to the GPS program (city route, magistral, etc.) and the time (day or night). Another problem, which is already a public secret, is that teachers actually teach less than formally required, i.e. the corresponding topics are cut. We have come across cases with cars that train dozens of candidates a month, but only have one teacher. This is impossible, given that each course has about 38 hours of theory and 31 hours of practice. The third element, which is also massively signaled for violations, is maneuvering. Currently we don’t have much time on a mass scale, it will not be enough in an urban environment, with speed, etc. With the digital application, this will not be possible, because it shows where and what route was taken.
– When will this new system be introduced?
– It is not only ready, but it is functional as of February. It is purposely undergoing a five-month testing period to allow schools to figure it out and get used to it. At the same time, due to the volume of training and the amount of data, it is necessary to report issues to the Executive Agency Automobile Administration and they, accordingly, are tasked with resolving them.
– The heads of schools say that the digitalization of courses will lead to very high prices. Is there a reasonable justification for the increase in prices for driving courses if it is introduced to the new system?
– The system is free – teachers using it do not pay for it. There is nothing more than a common smart device, i.e. a phone or tablet. The claims that it is necessary to buy expensive devices are inconsistent and do not correspond to reality. This is not a reasonable argument for the price increase, as some schools insist on digitalization. According to my observations and other sources, there are dozens of protocols with identical signatures – it seems that the entire course was signed in advance, in one day, to actually be conducted. Some schools report expenses for renting an unreasonable number of vehicles. These are not only untrue, but also over-reported – the elements that actually conduct the courses have higher expenses, and those that sign protocols for a conducted theoretical training. Some schools prefer not to perform and not to conduct driving practice. We calculated that, with 31 hours of practice, the course driver covers about 800 kilometers to reach the goal. Thus, compared to the courses in which schools save driving and practice at least 15 hours for the whole course. Digitalization exposes this fraud and unfairness.
– Digitalization will create difficulties for illiterate drivers – they will not be able to sign as a person, they cannot read, how can they drive?
– The question of literacy is settled in one law: it requires completing 10th grade to obtain a driving license. We end up on the road with what knowledge 10th-grade education. Often taxis are driven by illiterate drivers and even drivers of goods vehicles or on buses. In addition, the training and the exam require knowledge and good understanding of the Bulgarian language. In addition, I can note that practical exercises for obtaining a driving license are also performed through an electronic application, which generates the route for the exam and thus eliminates the subjective element and the possibility of buying a license without the necessary driving skills.
– Regarding the 43 measures voted by the government, much has been said, but parents are interested in how school excursions will become safer?
– Requirements for the organizers of these excursions are increasing - we foresee the introduction of personal responsibility for omissions in ensuring the safety of children for the persons who organize the excursions, as well as for the performers hired by them. With legal changes, we will introduce the requirement for all school buses and all buses transporting children to have a mandatory briefing before departure and that they do not leave until the children put on their seatbelts; to have a mandatory alcohol test before departure, and the above requirements to simultaneously, they are submitted to the transport companies for evaluation. In school buses and all buses transporting children, they are tested for alcohol through a special device – an interlock, which does not allow the engine to start if the test for alcohol is positive. The expenses incurred by the investors for interlocks are reimbursed by the state, and after evaluating the benefits from them, I am sure that these devices will be introduced in public transport.
– Currently, public transport is in a terrible stateМ old, dilapidated trains and dirty buses with torn and dusty seats. How will there be a change in this sector?
– A new regulatory framework that determines the quality of the service is being prepared. At the moment, our law does not regulate the quality of the service as a mandatory element of the service. We are currently working on a new law on public transport, in which the quality of the service will be governed by approved technical specifications. The new law is based on three main elements – data on the priority of rail transport, as well as a single transport scheme and the definition of obligations for the quality of transport service with guaranteed rights on the road. For the first time, this will be a real law. Subsidies in full are received only by those carriers who have worked and every cent is covered by minimal transport. We cut crooked paths, dirty and unscrupulous practices, abuse and non-compliance with the timetable. We track the exact movement of trains and buses electronically, and the number of sober drivers. The new law will be adopted by the end of this year. The law introduces a national transport scheme and a general timetable for trains and buses. The state subsidizes railways and buses, and cannot transfer transport to other countries. The bus transport will be more frequent than the train timetable. This means that next time it will be more convenient for you to change from the train to the desired destination at the station.
– Why hasn’t this been done so far?
Look at our trains! And some of the carriers' buses! They are not in a condition in which we can look for any quality of service. Due to the lack of carriages in the trains, there are frequent stops, and the demand for most of the available passenger carriages of the BDZ is lamentable – what quality can we look for here? Even the most recently purchased carriages from Germany are second-hand and over 25 years old. And these old wagons operate at 1000 volts, not 1500, which is the voltage in Bulgaria. While all of Europe switches to the 1500-volt standard and gets rid of its old wagons, we buy them up. We become a dumping ground for the old wagons of the Western EU countries.
– What are we doing with these wagons?
– We have started converting them to operate at 1000 and 1500 volts. When I became minister, only 12 wagons with changed transformers and a change rate of only two per month were completed. Some of the unrepaired ones are towed by the old “Škoda” locomotives, which have outputs for both 1000 and 1500 volts. The conversion of the wagons is done at BDZ's own base, but unfortunately, it can only convert two wagons per month. At this rate, we will repair them by 2027. No one thought, when buying these wagons with different operating voltage, that they would stand as monuments for years. We urgently added two more repair bases to BDZ and changed intensity of work. We have already significantly increased the capacity – by six wagons per month to be re-equipped with new transformers, and by the end of the year, all wagons will be put into operation.
– What will be done to improve the terrible condition of trains?
– When the new 60 railcars arrive - 25 of them with 320 seats, and the other 35 with 351 seats. We have received approval for them by the summer of 2026 to the summer of 2027. This covers about 2/3 of our needs from modernized passenger trains. We are announcing a new competition for 10 diesel railcars for non-electrified lines, with the option of purchasing 10 more if financing is secured.
– Will private passenger trains start operating?
– This is another aspect of the reform we are implementing. We have sent a plan-program to the EC. It envisages two regional operators starting by the end of next year. The idea is for two new private operators to take over certain regional routes. They will cover about 20% of the territory and passenger traffic in the country. Thus, the state will open the door to introducing competition in this sector. This process is starting smoothly, so that there is no collapse with one operator and rail transport as a whole. By 2029, all repairs on the train lines in the southern direction from Sofia to Burgas and in the area of Karnobat through Sindel to Varna must be completed. These two destinations will be covered as quickly as possible for the southern part of the isolated repaired track with a speed of over 160 km/h. The main reason for the large delays in train movement on railway lines is that trains pass through repair sites only through certain temporary windows. And when construction activities are not completed at a precisely defined time, payment is received.
– In other European countries, China and Japan, repairs on railway lines are not made, yet trains are not interrupted?
– They do, but not under our Public Procurement Law. This is not a criticism of the law, but of its misuse: long delays, slow construction and difficult procedures. While one project is put into real construction, it takes years. Often, due to delays, European financing is lost and we are unable to find money for new procedures.
– Speaking of slow construction: the Council of Ministers tasked you with negotiating with environmentalists for the completion of the Struma highway. What can be done?
– I have been tasked with forming a group to negotiate with environmentalists. Personally, my opinion is that for too many years these environmental disputes have been preventing Bulgaria from building a 13 km highway through the Kresna Gorge. We have currently given a mandate to the working group to negotiate a variant in which both lanes of the highway are moved outside the gorge. This is the main stumbling block with the environmentalists. The condition is for the environmentalists to withdraw their complaints so that work on the construction of the highway can begin immediately, otherwise, it will not be possible to build it in the next 5-6 years. And that means that European funding will be lost. On holidays, these 13 km are traveled in four hours. Everyone who has passed through the gorge has been left with a bitter feeling towards the environmentalists who have been blocking this important project for more than 25 years. Their entire working career has been partly spent in opposition to construction in this section. I hope this time reason prevails.
– And what are the statistics on how many infrastructure projects are stopped due to appeals by green organizations?
– I don't have statistics. I believe that Bulgaria suffers from cumbersome procedures and a ton of bureaucracy. In this regard, the Spatial Development Act should be supplemented in terms of construction on the territory. This is absolutely unprecedented in terms of construction of highways, railway lines, water pipelines, long-distance pipelines, and the Spatial Development Act on areas where nothing can be built – blocks, houses, but no linear objects. Linear objects pass through many different municipalities and lands with different ownership. Before starting construction, it is necessary to go a long way in agreeing on documents in each individual municipality, through which the object passes, on changes in urban planning and regulatory plans, to find each owner of property through which the object passes, to carry out expropriation of the land, to go through two ecological procedures. Each of the above stages usually passes through at least two or even three independent phases, and the results are always not enough. On average, from the moment of planning a highway to the start of its construction! This is unacceptable! You see, the markets are overflowing. The traffic through Plovdiv and Svilengrad is overcrowded. It is necessary to immediately start the construction of a number of infrastructure projects. Can you imagine if we have to wait 8 years for coordination and bureaucracy? If we don't build our share, in 8 years the transport corridors will bypass us and pass through our neighbors, and not through Bulgaria. And Bulgaria will remain isolated in terms of transport. The goods that go from Thessaloniki to the north are already bypassing Skopje and Nis, and the Serbian and Hungarian railways and highways are already becoming faster to Western Europe. Therefore, in my opinion, the law should be supplemented, as in the Spatial Development Act, a new chapter – linear construction should be made, and in its linear object, the entire object with all its missing elements should be considered. And all procedures can be completed in a two-year cycle. If we deal with this, Bulgaria will have the necessary infrastructure for fast and safe movement and a reliable energy network.
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In school buses, all children are tested for alcohol daily through a special device - interlock.
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Our guest
GROZDAN KARADZHOV is Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications in Rosen Zhelyazkov's cabinet. He began his political career during the government of the UDF. In 1997, he became chief secretary of the Committee on Posts and Telecommunications, and when it merged with the Ministry of Transport, Karadzhov was appointed to the same position in the united ministry. At the same time, he was chairman of the board of BTK and remained in this position until the end of 2001. In 2004, the company was privatized. After the fall of the Kostov cabinet, he headed the party foundation “Democracy.” He was a national representative in the 43rd parliament from the list of the Reformist Bloc.
In 2021, he was nominated by ITN for Minister of Transport and Communications in the unrealized ITN cabinet, but at the end of the same year, he became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development and Public Works in the Petkov cabinet.