Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

Monthly Public Council meetings will be conducted in the field of maritime, air, railway and automobile transport alongside e-governance, IT and telecommunications. This was announced today by the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Danail Papzov during the first meetings with each branch. The sessions will be divided into the five respective fields and each meeting will last 45 minutes so that specific operational issues can be discussed for every branch.

“Inspections on the implementation of all concession agreements concerning ports will begin soon, my proposal is to include one public council representative in each of the committees.” said Minister Papazov during the maritime hearing. He announced that the certificates for operability issued by the Executive Agency “Maritime Administration” for port operators will become indefinite. According to him, periodic inspections will be carried out and if violations are found present, they will be withdrawn. Further discussions were held in regards to work carried out by Executive Agency “Maritime Administration” and State Enterprise “Port Infrastructure”. The participating parties agreed that a comprehensive analysis of their regulatory framework must be carried out.

Minister Papzov provided a short-term stabilization measures for “Bulgarian State Railways Holding” (BSR) which will include reducing the internal debt through a debt-for-equity swap method. “Consideration is being given to the option to include an office for BSR within Sofia Central Railway Station during its modernization which is implemented under Operational Program ‘Transport’.” According to him this will improve the company’s performance, as part of its administration, “BSR – Passenger Services Ltd.”, will be in the closest possible proximity to its customers. Participants supported the decision to suspend the privatization of “BSR – Freight Services” and pledged to propose measures assisting the company in overcoming its plight.

Opportunities for the provision of financial support in training professional pilots were discussed in the first Public Council of Air Transport under the chairmanship of the Minister of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications Danail Papazov. The question of possible scholarships involving the State was presented by representatives of the Association of Bulgarian Airlines. The training will cost around € 40,000 and is only applicable to candidates who may provide this financing. Annually between 10 and 15 Bulgarians are trained as professional pilots.

Minister Papazov undertook the responsibility of seeking out opportunities for young, talented and motivated Bulgarians to receive the necessary support and urged airlines to participate in financing the training of professional aviators.

Opportunities for priority inclusion within the program of the National Assembly of the changes in the Civil Aviation Act, which regulate light aircraft were also one of the themes of the Public Council in the field of air transport.

Asked by representatives of the Association of employees at Sofia Airport for a possible concession, Minister Papazov said that he expects the preliminary analyzes to be ready in November. According to the Minister, the airport in Sofia will not be given a concession at all costs, but experience shows that such large infrastructural projects are best managed by private organizations.

Representatives of the automotive industry insisted on providing opportunities for European funding within the next programming period such as renewal of the bus fleet, construction of parking lots and more. Among the priorities of the Public Counci for Road Transport will henceforth be fight with the grey sector.

Within the Public Counci for Information Technology and Communications was reported the successful completion of two major projects in the field of e-government, financed by the Operational Programme "Administrative Capacity". Within a month the renovated portal of e-government will be presented, in which about 200 electronic directory services have been uploaded, and access to web portals. By the end of 2013 will be the trial period of the new look and functionality of the site, and by 2014 it will be possible to actually use the electronic services.

Representatives of all professional organizations praised the determination of the regular schedule of meetings of public councils for all the sectors every month.