The budget of OP "Transport and Transport Infrastructure" is BGN 4 billion and a little over BGN 1 billion of it should be absorbed in the remaining three months until the end of the year. This is what the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov said at an event on the operational programme, which took place in Sofia. The Minister stressed that this is a huge resource, but with a good mobilization of the Ministry and the beneficiaries the program will be successfully completed.
"Just a few days ago we included three new projects worth more than 184 million levs. This resource represents unspent funds from the railway projects, which have significantly delayed their implementation," Minister Gvozdeykov explained. The investments will be for the development of the Sofia metro and new metro trains, the construction of the Burgas bypass and the extension of the port of Burgas.
The transport minister said that 70 million levs from the programme are directed to its most successful project - the Sofia metro. Partial funding is foreseen for the extension of Line 3 in the stretch from "Shipka” Str. to "Tsarigradsko shose” Blvd., as well as the purchase of sixteen new metro-trains. "With this, the funds secured for the Sofia metro under OPTTI 2014 -2020 become a total of BGN 883 million levs," emphasized Georgi Gvozdeykov.
The deepening of the fairway in the water area of the port terminal Burgas-West is the second project to be funded under OPTTI. SE "Port Infrastructure" has already selected a contractor and the contract is expected to be signed within days. The project implementation period is 204 days and the contract value is close to BGN 70 million levs, of which more than BGN 24 million levs will come from OPTTI. According to Minister Gvozdeykov, the implementation of the project will allow the handling of some of the largest ships in the world, which will significantly increase the potential of the port of Burgas.
During the event, it also became clear that the bypass of the city of Burgas, which is the link between the Trakia Motorway and the main road Burgas-Varna, receives 90 million levs from the programme. The project has now been completed and the route is operational. By redirecting the transit traffic from the Trakia Motorway outside Burgas, the load on the city street network is significantly reduced, and the commuters who pass through without entering the city will save an average of 350 thousand hours per year.
The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Anna Natova, Acting Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria Boyko Blagoev, Head of the Managing Authority of OP Transport and Transport Infrastructure 2014-2020 Martin Georgiev, representatives of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, beneficiaries and others.
