Bulgaria: back on track?

Several important Bulgarian road projects are expected to gain momentum over the coming weeks, a welcome boost for a sector that has been beset by delays in the past. In mid-September, the National Road Infrastructure Agency (NRIA) announced that it would soon be declaring new tenders for the construction of two key road projects worth a total of US$94 million (approximately €68.8 million). One section will link the south-eastern city of Kardzhali to Podkova, near the Greek border: the second will connect t
July 23, 2012 Read time: 4 mins

The EC is taking a more supportive position, as Bulgaria attempts to put its road building programme back on track, writes Gordon Feller

Several important Bulgarian road projects are expected to gain momentum over the coming weeks, a welcome boost for a sector that has been beset by delays in the past. In mid-September, the National Road Infrastructure Agency (NRIA) announced that it would soon be declaring new tenders for the construction of two key road projects worth a total of US$94 million (approximately €68.8 million).

One section will link the south-eastern city of Kardzhali to Podkova, near the Greek border: the second will connect the Sofia ring road to the Hemus Highway, which runs from the capital to Varna, Bulgaria's second largest commercial centre on the Black Sea coast.

Both projects have been held up by funding irregularities, while the Kardzhali-Podkova road was the subject of some controversy as the original concession was allegedly awarded in breach of proper procedure.

Another major project, the Lyulin Motorway, a 19km stretch linking Sofia with the prospective Struma Motorway leading to the south-western border town of Kulata, and then to the Greek city of Thessaloniki, should also receive a boost soon.

The Transport Ministry, the NRIA (until recently the National Road Infrastructure Fund) and the 2465 European Commission (EC) are expected to reach a deal on tenders for technical support for the motorway's construction as we go to press.

This follows the news from July, when it was revealed that the contractor, Turkish firm 4148 Mapa-4144 Cengiz, had only completed 5% of the road, rather than the 40% scheduled for mid-2008. The project had been delayed by labour shortages and difficulties in obtaining visas for Turkish workers, and is now due for completion in May 2010.

Previous EU funding to the Lyulin project through the Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession (1118 ISPA) programme, which aims to develop transport infrastructure in countries joining the EU, had been suspended over doubts about adherence to procedural rules. Once a new settlement has been reached, the EC will decide whether to continue financing road projects under ISPA, with the announcement expected on 24 November 2008.

The EU had previously agreed to provide $163 million (€119.5 million) of the estimated $217 million (€160 million) cost of the Lyulin Motorway, which is considered vital to easing traffic pressures around Sofia and improving cross-continent transport links.

The Bulgarian capital lies at the confluence of three major pan-European transport corridors, key routes earmarked by European governments for development. These are corridors VIII (which runs from Durres on Albania's Adriatic coast to Varna, including Bulgaria's partially complete Trakia Motorway) and X and IV, from Central Europe to Istanbul and Thessaloniki, respectively.

Despite the expected fillip to Bulgaria's road building programme, the process of upgrading the country's creaking network is likely to be a slow and expensive one. The Struma Motorway, which is also only partially complete, is a crucial section of corridor IV, but is not expected to be finished until 2020. The road's cost has been estimated at $880 million (€645 million), but recent media reports suggest that it could run to $1.45 billion (€1 billion), partly due to additional environmental protection measures.

The government claimed in mid-September that it had made record progress in highway construction, with 100km of motorway and 4,000km of other roads completed in just three years.

Certainly, recent developments indicate that the authorities are pushing forward with road-building schemes despite the EC's suspension of a €519 million block of funding in July, the latest of a series of freezes affecting expenditure on transportation.

The government has allocated €260 million of the budget surplus to an "infrastructure package," which includes the continuation of work on the Trakia Motorway.

Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev has given notice that he is willing to dip further into the budget surplus, which totalled €2.18 billion in the first seven months of the year, in order to keep infrastructure developments on track. n

The government has allocated €260 million of the budget surplus to an "infrastructure package," which includes the continuation of work on the Trakia Motorway

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Foreign investors eye expansion into Russian road-building industry
    March 18, 2016
    The Russian road sector looks set for international investment - Eugene Gerden writes Amid the ongoing recovery of the Russian economy from the effect of Western sanctions, foreign investors are considering accelerating their activities in the Russian road building industry. In recent months the establishment of joint ventures with local road building companies has become no longer as profitable for foreign investors as it was in the past. As a result the majority of foreign investors are considering
    Read More
  • VIDEO: Kolin-Kalyon and Limak-Cengiz win North Marmara connector tenders
    May 23, 2016
    Turkey has awarded the much-delayed tenders for the motorway connector roads to Istanbul’s Third Bosphorus Bridge.

    The 90km motorway section between Kinali and Odayeri was awarded to the Kolin-Kalyon joint-venture with completion in seven years and nine months, according to Turkish media reports. The 170km section between Kurtkoy and Akyazi was awarded to Limak-Cengiz joint-venture which will finish the work in six years and nine months.
    Read More
  • Bulgarian highway faces construction delays
    September 24, 2014
    In Bulgaria questions hang over the construction of a section of the Struma Highway. Greek construction company Aktor was originally awarded the contract for Lot 4 of the Struma Highway but work on the project slipped behind schedule. The delays seen so far with the project have not been well received within the Bulgarian Government. The work was supposed to have been completed around the end of 2014 or the beginning of 2015 and the country’s transport ministry has said that work on the highway cannot be de
    Read More
  • Chinese firms to work on Serbia’s Corridor 11 project
    November 30, 2015
    Serbia and China have signed a memorandum of understanding for construction of two sections of Serbia’s Corridor 11. The MoU was inked in during Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic’s visit to the Chinese capital Beijing last week. Serbia’s Tanjug news agency reported that Vucic said the deal was worth around €209 million and included construction of the 18km Surcin-Obrenovac bridge. Corridor 11 runs from the Serbian capital Belgrade southwest to the border with Montenegro, another member state of
    Read More

Highlighted Content