The Šumen District Prosecutor’s Office has initiated a probe following journalistic reports about the poor construction of a municipal building, which endangers the lives of its residents. In connection with these reports, a check has been ordered under Article 356 of the Criminal Code for violations of construction and fire safety regulations during the building process, which poses a danger to people’s lives, announced the prosecutor’s spokesperson, Emilia Yancheva.
The investigation will be led by the district prosecutor of Šumen, Lyubomir Georgiev. He has instructed the investigating officers on which persons mentioned in the reports to be questioned and what documents to request. Based on the evidence collected, the supervising prosecutor will decide whether to initiate a case regarding this matter.
The five-story municipal building for socially disadvantaged citizens was constructed by the Shumen company “JSP Stil” with European funds under the “Regions in Growth” Operational Program, at a cost of over 3 million BGN. The building was officially accepted at the end of 2021 and is still within the warranty period. Occupation of tenants in the block began at the end of 2022, but just a few months later, the first incident occurred — the ceiling collapsed onto a crib with a one-year-and-five-month-old baby, who survived by a miracle. Since then, for over two years, the building has continued to crack, with ceilings falling onto sleeping children. Meanwhile, the municipality and the builder are waiting for something to fall somewhere so they can finally repair the “defect.”
Out of a total of 51 apartments in the block, 31 have already experienced ceiling collapses, meaning that an alarming 60% of the units are considered defective to this day. However, the owner of the contracting company claims that the falling ceilings are not due to poor-quality construction, but “other factors.”
The builder: “Everything was of good quality!”
“The poor quality of execution is not true; everything was of high quality,” stated Stefan Nachev, manager of “JSP Stil,” in an interview with journalists in Shumen, when asked about the alleged substandard construction of the municipal block. According to Nachev, the falling ceilings and cracked walls are a result of “a combination of other factors.” He listed reasons such as the building being constructed during winter, apartments not being opened or ventilated for a long time, and high humidity inside the units because residents dry clothes there.
Given that 60% of the apartments are defective, his statement understandably raises serious doubts. Nonetheless, Nachev apologized for what is happening at the municipal block and declared that his company responds to every signal and repairs damages promptly.
At the same time, the builder attacked residents for posting photos of the falling ceilings on social media, claiming they were “creating tension.” “We do not deny that there is plaster falling, but we are trying to take measures as quickly as possible. But we want to work calmly,” said Nachev. He also admitted that he had been involved in “the tension with the tenants,” but declared that he would no longer participate in such conflicts.
Shumen Municipality will conduct inspections every week
Shumen Municipality will carry out weekly inspections of the block to identify problems early and carry out repairs before any incident occurs, stated Deputy Mayor Nikola Kolev. He noted that the contractor “JSP Stil” responds promptly to signals and repairs the apartments. Due to the falling ceilings in the social block, several inspections have been conducted by municipal commissions in recent months. In December, problems were found in 23 apartments, which have now been fixed, said Kolev. However, he added that plaster still continues to fall in other apartments.
“When we started our term, the problems in the building persisted. Since the site is under warranty, the fastest approach was to contact the contractor to fix the issues. And he’s doing that,” commented Kolev.
Regarding the tension between employees of the Municipal Housing and Property Enterprise and tenants who fear eviction if they complain, Kolev stated he has personally spoken with everyone who filed a report. “Anyone who is threatened by someone can contact me,” said Nikola Kolev.
We recall that a woman with two children was threatened by OЖИ employees to be evicted after our publication about the deteriorating municipal building. The reason — the woman provided a video showing large chunks of ceiling plaster falling onto children’s beds. Later, other tenants said that residents are afraid to report problems because Municipal Housing and Property Enterprise employees threaten to evict them. The deputy mayor assured that he would not allow any unjustified evictions or abuses of tenants.
