SK8: Situation with Bridges Critical, Regions Ask State to Act ASAP

Hnusta, January 3 (TASR) - Self-governing Regions Association (SK8) head Jozef Viskupic and Banska Bystrica governor Ondrej Lunter held a news conference in the town of Hnusta (Banska Bystrica region) on Friday to point to the alarming condition of bridges on second- and third class roads across Slovakia. According to them, more than 2,000 bridges administered by self-governing regions are in an alarming technical condition. Therefore, regional authorities are asking the government to act quickly and seek a way to restore transport infrastructure that is used by hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis. The state entrusted the administration of bridges on second- and third-class roads to self-governing regions almost 20 years ago. However, the regional authorities point out that it created no financial mechanism for them to maintain and restore transport infrastructure. At the moment, some 600 bridges have been included in the sixth (worst) category, while an additional 1,400 are fifth (critical) category. The regional authorities stressed that they have no money to reconstruct them as a result of cuts in regional administration budgets and inflation in previous years. "More than 2,000 bridges throughout Slovakia under the administration of self-governing regions are in such a condition that they will have to be closed within weeks or months. We're currently in a situation in which we have no money to reverse this critical situation," stated Lunter, adding that traffic on six bridges in Banska Bystrica region along has been limited or completely halted within the past couple of weeks. The self-governing regions plan to turn to the government, Parliament and president with two demands related to the critical situation on second- and third-category roads. They demand predictable financing amounting to 2 percent of GDP from the state. They see a solution in creating a special reserve fund from which they would be able to draw money for reconstruction work. A second alternative would be repairing bridges via PPP projects. "If the government doesn't start addressing this problem as a priority, there's a danger of transport infrastructure in the whole of Slovakia collapsing, as it's not in our power to eliminate this problem," explained Lunter. The SK8 representatives held a news conference symbolically in the town of Hnusta in the district of Rimavska Sobota, where traffic has been restricted on two bridges in the past month. ko/df