Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

At today’s opening of the facility, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria, Plamen Oresharski, and his Romanian counterpart, Victor Ponta, agreed that the traffic on Danube Bridge 2 will be free of charge for all vehicles up to 00.00 on 1 July 2013. The official ceremony was attended by the President of the National Assembly, Mihail Mikov, the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Danail Papazov, the Transport Minister of Romania, Relu Fenechiu, Mugur Isarescu, Prime Minister of Romania in the period 1999 - 2000, the European Commissioner for regional Policy, Johannes Hahn, various government officials and MPs from both sides, experts who have worked on the project over the years and many more.

Minister Danail Papazov has issued an order on the organization of availability of the bridge for all pedestrians, and the accessibility for vehicles from that night. A total of 415 000 vehicles are forecasted to cross the bridge in the first year of its operation, 186 000 of which are cars, 20 000 buses and 209 000 trucks, as well as 4 745 trains in both directions, 730 of which are passenger and 4 015 freight trains. At the end of the period (2030), the number of freight trains in both directions is expected to reach 8 504. Further traffic is expected to be generated from Greece, Turkey, Macedonia and the neighboring region of Serbia.

During the ceremony, PM Plamen Oresharski expressed his hopes that the opening of the bridge will result in faster construction of the adjoining infrastructure. According to the President of the National Assembly, Mihail Mikov, the bridge is not only a link between the inhabitants of the two towns. What is more Vidin becomes a cross-point on the map of Europe. Commissioner Hahn thanked the Bulgarian and Romanian governments for managing to finish the bridge in time, establishing a company that will manage it and allowing traffic on the bridge from tomorrow. He noted that the facility connects two of the poorest regions in Europe and expressed conviction that the benefits of this large-scale infrastructure project will be visible in a few years time. The Romanian Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, said that in the past 2000 years, the Danube area has seen the establishment of three bridges, making today a historic moment. He expressed hope that the Bulgarian and Romanian sides have learned their lessons from the project and will continue to operate faster and successfully in executing such joint initiatives.

The inauguration ribbon was cut by two construction workers –one Bulgarian from Vidin and one Romanian from Calafat, who have been working at the facility since its beginning.

The total amount of funds from the grants and the loans amount to about half a billion leva and they are fully absorbed.

A number of difficulties were overcome during the project implementation. From the Bulgarian side it was implemented under the conditions of 14 contracts (6 for funding, 2 for construction, 3 for supervision and management, and 3 with the Romanian side for construction in the border area).

Separate contracts for construction and supervision of the infrastructure links on the Romanian bank were signed and implemented on the Romanian side.

Both sides had to overcome not only the differences in the legislation, but also the unfavorable effects of the deepening general economic crisis. The project for the construction of the combined road and rail bridge over the Danube at Vidin - Calafat is unique not only at a regional, but also at an European level. The total length of the road part of the bridge is 1391 m, and the length of the railway - 1791 m.

The bridge facility is unique and is composed of three parts: railway overhead road in ten holes up to 40 m and a total length of 400 m, a bridge over the non-navigable channel of the Danube river eight holes of 80 m, and one over the navigable channel part of the river of the five holes of which three, in a 180 m.