Bulgaria to submit to Brussels transport projects worth €10 bn after 2014

"Bulgaria has prepared transport projects worth nearly €10 bn, which our country will submit to Brussels, applying for funding from the new EU Fund for Linking Europe, which will provide funds for cross-border energy, transport and information infrastructure projects after 2014,” said Dimitar Savov, Director of National Transport Policy at the Transport Ministry. He attended the Economic Forum for Southeast Europe held in Sofia. “An expert panel is currently being set up which is to determine Bulgaria’s position with regard to this fund. The fund is diverse, many countries do not approve of it and, therefore, we will consider the matter seriously. At present, Bulgaria’s projects are assessed by the European Commission as sustainable. However, they should be prepared in accordance with the respective environmental, geological and other criteria so that there will be no obstacles,” said Savov. Co-financing on the part of Bulgaria will depend on the importance of each project.

Among the proposed projects is the one for the construction of the most expensive section of the Struma highway - in the Kresna Gorge. The Fund has earmarked €27.1 bn for transport projects of all EU countries and €10 bn from the Cohesion Fund. According to Dimitar Savov, the new guidelines for the development of the Transeuropean Transport Network TEN-T in the coming years are very important for the improvement of transport infrastructure and services in Southeastern Europe.

TEN-T’s guidelines concerning the territory of Bulgaria cover road, rail, intermodal, air and water transport. “Under the technical assistance measure of OP Transport, Bulgaria will apply for the construction of a system of electronic traffic counters on roads in our country and the establishment of an information map of the entire road infrastructure,” Lazarina Stoichkova, board member of the Road Infrastructure Agency stated during the forum.

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