site.btaBulgarian Construction Companies Eye Export Potential

Bulgarian Construction Companies Eye Export Potential

Sofia, September 28 (BTA) - The best from the point of view of
expansion of Bulgarian construction companies on new markets is
yet to happen because of the experience they have accumulated,
Deputy Prime Minister for EU Funds and Economic Policies
Tomislav Donchev said. He was speaking at a Monday forum on the
subject of construction in 2016, its prospects and the
challenges before it, organized by the Chamber of Builders in
Bulgaria.

In the next five to seven years no less than 20,000 million leva
 will emerge on the market in Bulgaria. Half of them from the
European funds and the rest from the state and the 
municipalities. Funds will pass though the budgets of the public
 institutions and it depends on the construction companies what
part of the sums will pass through their accounts, Donchev said.
 Naturally, there will be a competition what portion of these
millions will find their way to Bulgarian firms.

Regional Development and Urban Planning Minister Lilyana Pavlova
 presented the opportunities for the construction branch under
the new Operational Programme Regiona in Growth, as well as
under the cross-border programmes. According to the strategy,
road construction projects until 2022 need 12,000 million leva.
Pending priorities include the completion of Lot 3 of Strouma
motorway, Hemus motorway, the Sofia-Kalotina, Sofia-Vidin, and
Rousse- Veliko Turnovo roads together with the tunnel under Mt.
Shipka.

Three billion and a half leva under the new Operational
Programme Environment will be available until the end of 2022
for investments in environmental infrastructure, Environment
Minister Ivelina Vassileva said. The priorities remain the same
with several new elements: the main part of the resources will
again be focused on investments in the water and sewerage
sector. Then again, environment-friendly waste management will
continue to be a priority but the landfills will no longer be
subject to investment, with the exception of the newly-prepared
projects that have been spread out in time, such as the
landfills in Pazardzhik, Zlatitsa and recently in Blagoevgrad.
Improving the quality of ambient air and Bulgaria's rich
biodiversity will also be a priority.

The new elements in the programme are investments in measures
related to risk prevention and management of floods and
landslides. In just the water utility sector the country needs
nearly 12,000 million leva, but the aim is to make the most
effective investments and that in the most important sites,
Vassileva said. A total of five projects meeting the
requirements of the reform in the sector  and those of
environmental legislation will be chosen among the 14 that have
been drafted over the transition period. These projects are for
consolidated regions managed by one utility company and
settlements of over 10,000 residents. Construction works will
begin in 2016.

In the Waste sector a procedure has already been launched for
the design and development of composting installations worth 97
million leva. Municipalities can apply until August 1, 2016. 

The Chairman of the Chamber of Builders in Bulgaria, Svetoslav
Glosov, reported that 4,830 construction companies have been
entered in the Central Professional Register, including 4,775
Bulgarian ones, while 83.6 per cent of the construction
companies are small. The sector generates 4.7 per cent of the
country's gross added value.