The State Control Committee (KGC) of Belarus has identified problems and shortcomings in the operations of the Belavtodor holding company. Committee Chairman Vasily Herasimau announced this after reporting to Alyaksandr Lukashenka, saying the agency proposes transferring Belavtodor under the authority of the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
“We discussed the holding’s activities and its current efficiency. From our side, we proposed transferring it from the State Property Committee to the Ministry of Transport and Communications. This issue will now be reviewed at the level of the Council of Ministers,” Herasimau said, according to state news agency BelTA.
The KGC chairman noted that numerous issues were discovered during the audit of the holding’s work.
“Each year, the volume of road construction and reconstruction increases, along with funding. This, from the perspective of citizens and all road users, is certainly positive. But there are also a number of problems.
There are many complaints from citizens about the quality of the work performed. This is confirmed by the complaints received by the State Control Committee. Oversight bodies have also raised concerns. This year alone, the State Construction Supervision Department identified 1,500 defects. Of course, such a situation is unacceptable. There are also cases of deliberate overpricing of projects. We cannot ignore such things — up to initiating criminal proceedings,” he said.
According to Herasimau, project costs were sometimes inflated by adding unnecessary work, while in other cases, essential work was omitted. As a result of the KGC’s actions, funding was reduced by 36 million rubles.
“As for bridges, we have already developed project documentation for 131 structures, and this work will continue,” he added.
The KGC head also pointed out that the holding fails to renew its equipment and instead rents it from third parties.
“Unfortunately, Belavtodor has not engaged in proper fleet renewal and has begun actively renting equipment from private companies. Since 2023, 25 million rubles have been spent on this. The cost of these rentals is such that within two years, private companies recoup the cost of the machinery several times over. This is clearly unacceptable, and the holding needs to decide how to proceed,” Herasimau said.