The new section of the fence, which Bulgaria plans to construct at the border with Turkey in order to limit the influx of illegal immigrants, will be four times more expensive.

The new section will have a length of 82 kilometres, it will be higher and wider with several meters and will have deeper foundations in the ground, daily Sega reports.

Therefore, its price will jump to BGN 90 M, or BGN 1 M per kilometre, which will be spent without an auction, as the government decided to build it without a public procurement procedure.

The new section will stretch between the border checkpoints of Kapitan Andreevo and Lesovo, in an attempt to compensate for the shortcomings of the already existing section.

It turned out that the facility, which was built last year, had been breached at numerous spots and it did not present any serious obstacle to people determined to cross it.

The Interior Ministry intends to include cameras with capacity for night surveillance, which would save expenses on the stationing of additional posts along the length of the fence.

At present, border officials guard the first fence against intruders, while the existing cameras are useful only in good weather conditions.

The guarding of the border between Lesovo and Kapitan Andreevo while the construction takes place is also included in the price.

The already existing section of the fence has led to a seven-fold decrease in the number of people attempting to cross the border.

The existing 30 kilometres of the fence were much cheaper, having cost the taxpayers BGN 7.5 M or less than BGN 250 000 per kilometre.

However the Interior Ministry dismisses these figures, arguing that the expenses were much higher, as the resources spent by the Defence Ministry have not been included in the total amount.

Two weeks ago, the government decided to start the building of additional 110 kilometres of fence, with initially constructing the section between Lesovo and Kapitan Andreevo.

The Regional Ministry has been entrusted with the construction of the fence, while the Agriculture Ministry will be responsible for tracing the roads.