Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

The expansion of the metro from Boulevard "Patriarch Evtimij" to Boulevard "Cherni Vrach" will be put into operation till the year 2012. This declared the Minister of Transport Peter Mutafchiev, who carried out an examination of the Metro building progress together with the Mayor of Sofia Boiko Borisov. Mutafchiev said that Boulevard "Cherni Vrach" will be free for the traffic up to the tear 2010 - i.e. four months earlier.

This is the first big infrastructure project, approved on a national level. The application has been sent in December last year for approval by the EC.   

The Minister informed that the governing organ has received on Mart 2, 2009 an assurance from side of the European Commission that the application form meets all fundamental requirements and that the EC will proceed to the next stage of detailed evaluation. The expected annual social-economic effect from the realization of the project is approximately 55 millions of Euro.   

The project for expansion of the metro in Sofia is foreseen for financing by the EU Fund for Regional Development through OP "Transport" 2007-2013 on the priority axis 3 "Improvement of the Intermodality of the Transportation of Passengers and Freights"

The maximal value of the free financial help from OP "Transport" is 185, 19 millions of Euro. The actual total value of the project, according to the contracts for its accomplishment is 217,146 millions of Euro. The additional financing of the project - 61,952 millions of Euro has been provided by Sofia Municipality.   

The sector included in the project has the length of 6,4km with 7 metro stations. The route covers one of the most loaded directions in the city and connects the city center with the main transport junctions of the capital - the Central Railway Station and the Central Bus Station, the main thoroughfares, as well as the first metro diameter and the big residential quarters of the city.      

For additional information:
Kostadin Vardev, Press Centre,
Ministry of Transport
Phone: 940 96 20
E-Mail: kvardev@mt.government.bg