On the initiative of the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov a meeting was held between more than 10 institutions related to the problems of the transport industry. It was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the Employment Agency, the State Agency "National Security", the DG "Border Police", the DG "National Police", the Road Infrastructure Agency, the "National Toll Management", the Executive Agency "Automobile Administration", the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, as well as a wide range of representatives of the transport sector organisations.
"We are obliged to create conditions for the work of the industry, because the Bulgarian economy is largely based on transport," Minister Georgi Gvozdeykov said at the beginning. He outlined the need for urgent action to ease passage through the border crossings at our northern border, ease traffic in the sections with repairs, speed up procedures for third country workers and more timely awareness of the introduction of border disinfection fees.
At the beginning of the week, representatives of the Romanian Embassy were invited to a meeting at the Ministry of Transport and Communications regarding the request of transport companies to separate the flow of trucks from the European Union and third countries, the minister said. He assured that this issue will be discussed by a group of experts from the Bulgarian and Romanian transport ministries and Romania is currently expected to name its representatives to start concrete talks.
To ease the traffic, last week at a meeting with the Bulgarian ambassador to Romania the possibilities for using the ferry line at Tutrakan were discussed, Georgi Gvozdeykov added. The industry has raised the issue that the working hours of the border guards on the Bulgarian and Romanian side at the checkpoints of Kardam and Durankulak are not synchronized, and this creates additional delays for travellers.
The representatives of the Ministry of Interior specified that the traffic through the border crossings at Vidin and Ruse has increased by 30% and only since the beginning of the year 1.2 million trucks have passed through there.
With regard to faster passage in the road repair and construction stretches in the state, the transport firms have demanded that there should be police teams on the bypass roads to avoid tension with the residents of the localities of the areas. The Road Infrastructure Agency said it was considering steps to work on construction sites at night to get projects done faster.
The road infrastructure repairs are not an obstacle for the traffic across the Danube Bridge at Ruse, reported the Chairman of the Road Infrastructure Agency Yordan Valchev. He pointed out that since the start of the bridge reconstruction, there have been 40% more cars crossing the bridge compared to the same period last year, while heavy traffic has remained at the same volume. A telephone line for signals for violations related to the work of toll system employees and violators on the road is about to be launched, the National Toll Authority announced.
Regarding the measures for disinfection of vehicles at the borders, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Deyan Stavrev said that this is a mandatory prevention when there is an established worsened epizootic situation in a neighbouring country. The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency stressed the seriousness of the situation and explained that in all countries around us there are currently outbreaks of various diseases and the Bulgarian state is making every effort to prevent their entry into our country.
Minister Gvozdeykov said he was ready to convene a working group with representatives of the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Interior , DANS, Ministry of Labour and Social Politics ,
Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications and the industry next week to discuss the issue of hiring workers from outside the European Union. Discussions will also be held with the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of e-Government to clarify the timeline for the operation of the platform for optimising the processing of documents of job applicants from third countries.
