Some 53% of the funds granted under OP Transport agreed, 7.6% of them paid

"According to data as of March 31, some 53%, or about €1 bn, from the budget of Operational Programme (OP) Transport have been agreed, but some €150 mln, or 7.6% have been actually paid," announced Deputy Minister of Transport Ivaylo Moskovski at a meeting of the parliamentary European Affairs and European Funds Control Committee. According to him, a substantial progress in the implementation of this OP took place in the last 5-6 months.
A small part of the resources paid came from the Cohesion Fund, and the largest share of the money was from the European Regional Development Fund.

Currently 16 procedures under 7 projects for construction and supervision of over €900 mln are underway. The pre-accession ISPA program was fulfilled at 85%. A total of €183 mln have been agreed and just over €125 mln have been paid under the Danube Bridge 2 project, which is 68.39% of the budget. Some 65% of the facilities and a little less than 50% of the infrastructure have been built. Back in November, a request for an extension of the deadline for absorption of the funds until the end of 2012 was sent to the EC.

"We expect the European Commission's decision by the end of April," explained Minister of Transport Aleksander Tsvetkov. He said that at the yesterday's meeting of the Cabinet the problem with the concession for extraction of aggregates was tackled and thereby the last impediment slowing down the construction of the second bridge over the Danube was addressed properly.

The time difference that may occur between the start of the projects and the approval of the respective forms by the EC endangers the implementation of the program. So far, the EC has approved merely two application forms – for the first phase of the Sofia subway and for the Trakia motorway.

"A deficit of around €300-400 mln threatens to occur. The Ministry of Finance must be prepared in advance to cover the amount until the European funding is remitted," advised left-wing MP Meglena Plugchieva.

Прочети цялата новина

Свързани новини: