Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

“Turning of the First Sod” Ceremony for the construction of the new combined Bridge (Road and Railway) over the river Danube, near Vidin – Kalafat, on the building spot from Bulgarian side will took place on Sunday, May 13th, 2007 in Vidin. The Premier Minister Sergei Stanishev and the Minister of Transport Peter Mutafchiev will attend the event.

Promoter of the ceremony is the Ministry of Transport, together with executor of the constructing works – the Spanish Firma FCC. Ambassadors from the EU member countries, which actively support the realization of the project, as well as from the countries of the region will attend the event. High-level representatives of the European Commission, the Stability Pact and the financial institutions – the European Investment Bank, the German credit Institution for recovery (KfW), the French development agency (AFD); Parliament deputies from the Commission on Transport and Communications, as well as heads of the district administrations of Vidin, Vratsa, Montana and of Doldj- Rumania; high-standing priests from Bulgaria and Rumania; the Mayors of Vidin and Kalafat, as well as the mayors from other municipalities in the region will participate in the ceremony.

The Spanish firma “Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas” FCC won the contract for projecting and building of the new bridge with the best technical and financial offer. The value of the contract is 99 995 948 Euro and the time for accomplishing is 38 months.

Engineer of the constructing works, according to the conditions of FIDIC is a consortium of the French firma Ingerop and the British company “High-Point Rendel”, which will be a supervisor of the projecting and the constructing works on the new bridge near Vidin – Kalafat. The both companies are leading on the international market and the French firma has a superb experience in the projecting of big bridges, while the English company is famous with its know-how in the management of big bridge building spots with high quality of the realization.

Apart from the projecting and building of the bridge, the constructing works include also the building of the adjoining road and railway infrastructure on the Bulgarian coastline, covering the building of a new freight railway station and seven kilometers of railway line, as well as the reconstruction of the existing passengers railway station and building of four road conjunctions in two levels.

On May 3rd, 2007 the short list of companies for the supervision of the building of the adjoining infrastructure was approved. The contracts for the building and supervising of the adjoining infrastructure are expected to be signed till the end of the year.

Danube Bridge2 is one of the biggest and most complicated infrastructure projects, which are being accomplished by the Ministry of Transport. The total value of the project is 236 millions of Euro, from which 236 for the constructing works and 10 millions for the preliminary examination, projecting and consultant support.

The new bridge is included in the regional infrastructure projects of the Stability Pact and its building will abolish one of the main obstacles to the development of the trans-European corridor4, part of the common European Transport network. The building of the bridge is one of the main priorities in the Bulgarian policy for development of the transport infrastructure and important element of the policy for opening the country toward the European transport system. Of paramount importance for Bulgaria and Rumania will be the improvement of the access to the markets, as well as the increase of the competitiveness of the regional economy.