Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

We have repaid nearly 170 million Lev (168 987 157.94 lev) within the caretaker government’s terms of office, which is about 40% (approximately 430 million lev) of all money paid from the beginning of the year until now under the Operational Program "Transport" 2007 – 2013, said the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Nikolina Angelkova during a press conference at the Council of Ministers. At the event, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development Ekaterina Zaharieva presented the results achieved during the caretaker cabinet in the economic sector. There is no risk of loss of funds under OP "Transport" at the end of 2014, and about 15 million euro are be certified this year.

"About 10% is the overall physical progress of the railway projects which are being implemented under the Operational Program "Transport", said Nikolina Angelkova. In her words at the beginning of the mandate five high-risk projects have been identified - two in the road sector (Lot 1 of “Maritza” motorway and Lot 4 of “Struma” motorway) and three in the railway sector – Septemvri - Plovdiv, Plovdiv – Burgas and Dimitrovgrad - Svilengrad. Constant monitoring and weekly reporting with photos have been established. All measures are having effect, as in the railway sector the progress is visible. In the road projects only Lot 4 of "Struma“ motorway is problematic and measures have been taken to terminate the contract of the contractor. "We have resolved the administrative problems that hampered the implementation of the railway projects. All building permits have been issued in three months, despite being delayed with years", added Minister Angelkova.

An active and constructive dialogue with the European Commission to coordinate the OP "Transport and Transport Infrastructure" 2014 - 2020 has been reported. The budget for the new program is 1.9 billion EUR with the national co-financing, and projects submitted in the first version of the program in June amounted to about 4 billion EUR. "Thus we had to make a prioritization of the projects, based on the continuity of investment from the previous programming period, the development needs of the regions, project readiness and complexity of the projects, keeping balance between road and rail infrastructure and balance the development of the Southern and Northern Bulgaria", said the transport Minister. At this stage, the entire "Hemus" highway is included in the scope of the program, as the process of informal consultation of OP "Transport and Transport Infrastructure" with the European Commission it is expected to be completed by the end of November.

The process for the preparation of project proposals under the Connecting Europe Facility, where Bulgaria has been allocated around 420 million EUR, together with the national co-financing, has been accelerated. National Railway Infrastructure Company is working on the preparation of the railway project Dragoman - Sofia - Elin Pelin, and it is to be submitted by the end of February 2015 to comply with the deadline for the first call for proposals under the Facility. The cooperation with Romania has been deepened, which resulted in the signing of a Memorandum for the construction of two new bridges on the Danube River. "This is a political act which has been procrastinated for years and that gives a great opportunity for the development in Northern Bulgaria", said Nikolina Angelkova.

In terms of the financial stability of "Holding BDZ" we activated the dialogue with creditors and bondholders. The letter of support received from DG "Competition" of the EC, which states that the granting of state aid of 172 million levs for BDZ is permissible, is another important step in improving the condition of the company and the dialogue with creditors.

We have also engaged the European Commission in the process of preparing a strategy for the revival of "Holding BDZ", said Nikolina Angelkova. The strategy should be ready by the end of 2015. The document must be coordinated with all stakeholders - social partners, banks and creditors. This is an action plan with concrete steps, and deadlines. Minister Angelkova said she hoped that "the next government will maintain the active dialogue and achieve an arrangement with the BDZ creditors in short time".

In the railway sector, we analyzed all issues related to the working conditions and safety of the railway traffic and railway infrastructure. Both managements of 'Holding BDZ" and NRIC have prepared and already implemented a series of measures to address them. Meetings were held with trade unions in the sector, to which Minister Angelkova thanked for their cooperation and constructive dialogue. The established Advisory Committee on Safety with the participation of social partners is to monitor the implementation of all measures for improving the working conditions of railway staff and improving of safety of railway traffic and railway infrastructure.

The Draft Law amending the Law on e-Governance has been published for public consultation. The document was agreed with all stakeholders and establishes a single system administrator. This body will carry out maintenance of the common systems and information resources of e-government, in compliance with all requirements for interoperability and information security.

The most widely used municipal administrative services related to civil registration and local taxes can now be used online in the metropolitan area "Studentski". Pilot projects to connect the systems of Sofia schools and the Ministry of Interior have been launched as well as those between the system for hotel registration and the Interior Ministry.

The national search and rescue plan in cases of airspace accidents. Minister Angelkova considers that it can be used to apply for the International Air Transport Association and absorb 2 million Lev annually for these activities.