Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

The Executive Agency Maritime Administration will start the accomplishment of two partner-projects: "Building of Capacity for Oil and other Harmful Substances Contamination from the Ships along the river Danube" and "Building of capacity for Prevention of Oil and Other Harmful Substances Contamination from the Ships in Black Sea". Their duration is six months.

The goal of the projects is to improve the coordination of all national competent organs through the increase of the administrative capacity. It will improve the monitoring, the prevention and the removal of contaminations along the river Danube and in the Black Sea. This will conduce to the stable development of the tourism, fishery and the other industries, connected with exploitation of the river and the sea environment.

The project for the river Danube will be executed together with experts from the Ministry of Transport, Building and the Urbanization of the Federal Republic of Germany. The expected results are connected with an increase of the capacity of the regional directorates of "Maritime Administration" in Ruse and Lom in the field of observation, the emergency signals translation. The creation of database system for every ship will allow a fast identification of the contamination, including the usage of the international Clean Sea Net.

The partner-project for Black Sea will be realized together with experts from the maritime administration of Finland. The institutional improvement of the regional directorates in Varna and Burgas, as well as the effective control upon the ships, visiting the Bulgarian ports, is target of the projects. The improvement of the coordination between the competent Bulgarian organs and especially the regional directorates of "Maritime Administration" to improve their promptness for prevention of contaminations of the sea by ships, as well as to act in emergency situations according with the conventions of the International Sea Organization.

Within the mainframe of the project activities, the experts of Bulgaria, Germany and Finland will co-operate, working on the modernization of the national normative base, on the development or supplementation of the current procedures.

The financing is provided by the PHARE Program and the national budget.        

For additional information:
Vera Deianova, Press Centre,
Ministry of Transport
Phone: 940 95 34
E-Mail: vdeianova@mt.government.bg