site.btaHemus, Strouma Motorways Will Be Priority for Regional Development and Public Works Ministry in 2018

Sofia, December 24 (BTA) - The construction of the Strouma and Hemus motorways will be a priority for the Regional Development and Public Works Ministry next year, the Ministry said in a press release.

North Bulgaria's future is closely linked to the Hemus Motorway. The region is lagging behind South Bulgaria due to the lack of modern and fast roads. This imbalance must be overcome in order to stop the region's depopulation, the Ministry said.

The Motorway's total length is 420 km, of which 165 km have been completed so far. The construction of another 75 km is expected to start next year. Additional 85 million leva have been allocated in next year's budget at the Ministry's request for building the Motorway.

The motorway linking the northern city of Rousse and the central city of Veliko Turnovo is important for North Bulgaria's development. The Environment Ministry is to issue statement on the project's Environmental Impact Assessment, so that the engineering and contractor selection procedures can start in 2018. The new motorway could be completed in 2021-2022.

Next year will be crucial for the Strouma Motorway. The section between Kresna and the southwestern town of Sandanski is expected to be completed six months ahead of schedule - in November of next year. The Road Infrastructure Agency plans to be on schedule with the construction of the Motorway's most difficult section through the Kresna Gorge. The indicative deadline for launching the public procurements is April 30, 2018, and a contractor could be selected at the end of August if there are no appeals.

Another important project for the links between Balkan countries and improving traffic is the modernization of the Sofia-Kalotina road, linking the Bulgarian capital and the border with Serbia. Preparations have already started for the section between the Kalotina border crossing and the western town of Slivnitsa, which is 31 km long and is valued at 258.6 million leva. The public procurement procedures for selecting a contractor to build the two sections - Kalotina-Dragoman and Dragoman-Slivnitsa - is currently being appealed, but the Commission for the Protection of Competition has not initiated proceedings in response to the appeals, which means that the tenders will be soon announced once again.

The green light has been given to investments worth over 1.5 billion leva since May 5. In addition to the Strouma and Hemus motorways, 193 km of roads are being repaired under OP Regions in Growth 2014-2020, and the first sod has been turned on sites worth 160 million leva. Another 246 km of roads are to be awarded, bringing the total value of investments under the OP to 380 million leva.

At least 1,000 buildings are to be retrofitted next year with contracts signed with the Bulgarian Development Bank in 2015 and 2016.

OP Regions in Growth 2014-2020 allows the Ministry to invest 624 million leva in educational and sports infrastructure across 416 schools, kindergartens and universities.