Hargas: Migal's €130-million Project Overpriced Deal, Not Modernisation

Bratislava, 12 February (TASR) - Even the Finance Ministry has already held up a mirror to Investment, Regional Development and Informatisation Minister Samuel Migal (Independent) in the case of the modernisation of the slovensko.sk website costing €130 million, opposition MP Jan Hargas (Progressive Slovakia/PS) stated in connection with the negative assessment of the investment plans of the Investment, Regional Development and Informatisation Ministry by the Value for Money Unit (UHP) operating at the Finance Ministry. According to Hargas, Minister Migal's project shouldn't continue and must be halted. "On Wednesday (11 February), the Finance Ministry tore apart Migal's inflated project to modernise slovensko.sk. Although we often disagree with Kamenicky's ministry, this time they confirmed exactly what we've been pointing out for months. The €28 million suddenly became more than €130 million without any basis in the real needs of the state. This isn't systemic reform. This is banditry without proper justification, which someone is pushing through with all their might, even though everyone can see it," said Hargas. "For months, we've been listening to silly scare stories about collapse, hackers and system failure. The reality is that the National Agency for Network and Electronic Services (NASES) purchased new hardware for almost €10 million and the Finance Ministry said that it's been operating smoothly since then. They didn't properly compare alternatives, expert opinions didn't confirm the need for a complete replacement of key modules, and yet they're going to pour tens of millions into new ones, even though the original ones haven't yet reached their capacity. This doesn't smell of modernisation, but of a seriously overpriced deal," emphasised Hargas. am/df