Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

In the presence of Deputy Ministers of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Petar Kirov and Anton Ginev was signed an agreement to extend the services of RIS in the Bulgarian part of the Danube - BULRIS. The project builds national part of the Common European System for providing efficient and safe navigation on inland waterways and is funded by the Operational Program " Transport" 2007 - 2013 , the beneficiary of the project is the National Company "Port Infrastructure".

"It is crucial for Bulgaria and for all European countries." said Deputy Minister Petar Kirov . In his words, the improvement of navigation conditions on the Danube River is linked to a comprehensive package of measures that MTITC will develop the river and the railway transport, in line with EU priorities to promote green transport operations. "In the next programming period Mechanism ' Connected Europe ', together with Romania we will apply for the implementation of the project to improve navigation conditions in the critical sections of the river" said Petar Kirov . Among the projects that are important for the development of navigation are the projects for construction of an intermodal terminal in Ruse and rehabilitation of the railway line Ruse - Varna.

The " BULRIS " aims to increase both the safety in navigation on the Bulgarian stretch of the Danube and to minimize cases of river pollution. The project contributes to a better ability to use the Danube as the main waterway of the EU for the development of logistics and transport chains that cross Bulgaria. In the first phase of the project it is already built up the necessary technological infrastructure in 16 nodes located along the Danube River in the districts of Vidin, Montana, Vratsa, Pleven, Veliko Tarnovo, Ruse and Silistra. We are currently conducting tests of the system which is expected to be put into operation in early 2014. 

With today's signing of the contract, the extension of the system and the range of services is awarded to the Consortium "BUL RIS 2", which brings together companies “Tranzas Marin International AB” – Sweden, “Tranzas Mediterranean SAS”- France and the Bulgarian “Telelink”. The consortium partners specialized in designing and building management systems and vessel traffic monitoring, for radar tracking and for data exchange between vessels and shore services. The companies are among the leaders in Europe in the development of specialized equipment for the training of operators of navigation and maritime safety. The value of the contract to extend the system "BULRIS" is 9,494,000 Levs. The implementation period is 18 months. The project beneficiary is the National Company "Port Infrastructure".