The European Commission approved the project on the construction of 40 km of “Struma” Motorway in the sections Blagoevgrad - Krupnik, Kresna - Sandanski and the tunnel of “Zheleznitsa”. The total amount of the funds allocated by the EU Cohesion Fund is 628 million BGN. National co-funding amounts to 111 million BGN.
The construction of Lot 3.1 "Blagoevgrad - Krupnik" was launched on 31 August 2017 and is currently at the initial stage of implementation. On 20 September 2016 the construction works of Lot 3.3 "Kresna - Sandanski" started and the physical progress of the site will soon reach 50%. Open public procedures for the construction of the "Zheleznitsa" tunnel, estimated at 250 million BGN, are currently being carried out. The section is divided into three lots and the period for its implementation is reduced to 3 years.
By another decision the Commission endorsed today the amendment proposed by the Bulgarian side to OP on “Transport and Transport Infrastructure” 2014-2020. The amendments clarify the scope of the railway projects, which are funded under OPTTI 2014-2020, by removing railway sections, for which funding has already been provided under the Connecting Europe Facility. These are the railway sections Voluyak - Sofia - Elin Pelin, Kostenets - Septemvri and the Plovdiv railway junction, which will be constructed with funds from the CEF.
An extension of the scope of the project on the preparation of Radomir - Gyueshevo railway line is envisaged in order to consolidate the project along the whole route from Sofia to the border with the Republic of Macedonia. The project for the reconstruction of railway station complexes on the main TEN-T network was also changed, with Chirpan railway station being replaced by Karnobat railway station. The modernization project also includes the railway stations of Stara Zagora, Nova Zagora, Kazichene, Iskar and Poduyane.
