site.btaSofia Underground Extension to Airport Unveiled

Sofia Underground Extension to Airport Unveiled


Sofia, April 2 (BTA) - The section of the Sofia Underground to
Sofia Airport was formally unveiled on Thursday by Prime
Minister Boyko Borissov and Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova.
Attending the ceremony were also Transport Minister Ivaylo
Moskovski, Environment and Water Minister Ivelina Vassileva,
Regional Development Minister Lilyana Pavlova, Sofia
Metropolitan Director Stoyan Bratoev, deputy mayors, municipal
councilors and citizens.

"Every day some 500,000 people in Sofia will realize what an
acquisition they have and will not have to pay for a taxi to the
centre," Prime Minister Borissov said at the opening. The
biggest reform, carried out in Bulgaria, is in Sofia's transport
system, he observed. Since GERB is in power, 30 km of the
underground have been built, while in the previous 23 years - a
9.5 km section was completed only, he commented.

The underground is a big achievement not only for Sofia but for
the whole of Bulgaria, Sofia Mayor Fandakova said. She noted
that this has been a project of partnership and teamwork and
thanked the European Commission for citing this project as an
example. The newly-built section is emblematic because it turns
the facility into a multi-modal transport centre connecting the
Airport, the Central Railway Station and the Bus Station, the
Mayor said further.

The extension of the underground from Tsarigradsko Chausse
Boulevard to the Sofia Airport is implemented under OP Transport
2007 - 2013 by co-funding of the European Regional Development
Fund and national financing. The Sofia Underground Extension
project consists of three stages . The first two, of a total
length of 12.8 km and 13 stations, were built in the 2009-2012
period.

The new section is expected to transport 45,000 passengers daily
and reduce the traffic in the region by 12 per cent thus
reducing harmful emission in the air by 8,000 tonnes.