The salaries of employees in the Executive Agency ‘Road Transport Administration’ are shamefully low and we have taken steps in three directions to increase salaries, starting from the lowest levels. This is what the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov said during a meeting with the Union of Transport Trade Unions in Bulgaria. He stressed that the agency is addressing one of the most important issues for our society — road safety, which is also a top priority of this government.
‘Effective control of the ever-increasing heavy traffic on the roads is a key issue for the achievement of Vision 0 and we will make serious efforts in this direction,’ the Minister was adamant. He explained that for years there had been a neglect of workers' problems in the Executive Agency ‘Road Transport Administration’, which had led to a lack of human resources and significantly underestimated control activities. ‘We strive, according to the possibilities of the Budget 2023, to improve the working conditions of the workers in the system, but for some of them we will need some time,’ the Transport Minister stressed.
In the words of Minister Gvozdeykov, the railway sector is the other big priority, which is already being actively worked on. ‘For decades we have been hearing about some huge investments in this sector, but people cannot feel concrete results. That is why we want to have a real change in the rail service as early as 2024 by providing a few modern trains which we will lease until we get the rolling stock under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan,’ he explained. The Minister commented that the state funds for rail transport will now be allocated only against specific projects and reforms behind them.
Issues related to the development of water and air transport, as well as the management of companies in these sectors were also discussed during the meeting. The trade union side expressed confidence in good cooperation with the Ministry and effective dialogue on all issues of mutual interest.
