The new section of the fence at the border with Turkey, which is being constructed to deal with the influx of illegal immigrants in Bulgaria will be several times more expensive than the already existing part.

Only the construction of the section in the district of Haskovo, which has a length of 33.6 kilometres, is estimated to have a cost of BGN 24 M without VAT, Darik radio informs.

This has almost the same length as the already existing section of thirty kilometres, which was constructed during the previous government of Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski.

However the new section is foreseen to have a total length of 131 kilometres, which means that the final price could reach nearly BGN 100 M.

The sums became clear from a message of the district authority in Haskovo, which published the information on Saturday.

In June, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov made it clear that the expenses on the new fence should not exceed the resources spent on the already existing section.

Borisov admitted that he was afraid of political speculations with the price of the new fence and called for continuing construction according to the already established parameters - thirty kilometres at a price of BGN 9 M.

Later in June, when the government allocated BGN 30 M for the fence, Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova also explained about a double decrease in the expenses on the border;.

It is still unclear what will be the cost for the other two sections in Yambol and Burgas as the district authorities have not announced the selected companies and the agreed prices.

The district authority of Haskovo published the names of the companies, which will be constructing the facility and the roads leading to it.

The firms have been chosen without a competition and through a direct negotiation.

This became possible after the parliament adopted amendments to the Public Procurement Act, which allowed for companies to be selected without competition to avoid the lengthy appeal procedures.