Right of reply from Dr. Emil Branchevsky, mayor of the “Ilinden” district, in connection with the publication: Traces of asbestos in the traces of a kindergarten in Sofia:
Once again, the same people are trying to speak for everyone and through manipulative statements and falsehoods to create sensation where there is none. Some medical data is quoted which, unlike me, they do not understand. No source, justification or analysis, which is the definition of misinformation.
The completed order and contract for engineering (design and construction) by the previous administration of the Ilinden district, which is mentioned in the interview with the representatives of the Sugar Factory IC, is from the beginning of 2023 and was concluded with the condition “implementation at secured funding’. When I took office, I found that such funding had never been included in any budget of Sofia since 2005. The IC claims that they found out about the asbestos problem in 2015, given that the kindergarten was built 45 years ago and even then it was known what materials it was built with. And where did the former administration of the region sleep for the next 8 years – from 2015 to 2023, in the conditions of a comfortable majority both in SOS and at the national level and did not provide funding for the new construction of the kindergarten? Why didn’t they? Now, suddenly, pre-election, they remembered that the children attend this kindergarten, although they absolutely deliberately left them there for 8 years!
Already in the election campaign, I promised that I would be uncompromising towards the quality of everything related to children – kindergartens, playgrounds, playgrounds, halls. The citizens of the area elected me to protect the public interest and that is exactly what I have done by terminating this contract. Already at the beginning of my mandate, I made a complete revision of everything done and not done by the previous administration of Ilinden region for the last 10 years. For this contract, there was no secured financing, as was the clause for its execution, the procurement was carried out in the conditions of engineering, which is suboptimal for such a site, and the offer was already out of date. Therefore, already in the early spring of this year, I took maximum action to remove these obstacles and realize the project without delay. I terminated the contract, we divided the procedure into separate design and separate construction in order to maximize the quality of both the project and the implementation. After that, personally with the mayor Terziev and the deputy mayor for finance Vasilev we visited the 158th DG (and not only it, because the other renovated 179th DG has a leaky roof after just completed repairs by the previous administration) and thanks to my efforts, for the first time in 8 years, design funding was secured. Despite my removal, a designer selection procedure is now underway. And my removal, I am convinced, was organized, with a crime, through the theft of my personal data, precisely because, with the termination of this contract, I destroyed someone’s accounts, for the absorption of some 10-15 million BGN. I am sure that I will be able to complete this procedure as an acting mayor after YOU restore me to the position, completely transparently, with children in mind and with the public interest protected.
I want to point out that this “sensation” comes at a very “convenient” time just before the expected decision of the Supreme Court on my illegal removal, with the aim of manipulating and influencing the court through disinformation.