site.btaEU Commissioners to Visit Struma Motorway Construction Site

Brussels, September 25 (BTA correspondent Nickolay Jeliazkov) - The EU Commissioners for Environment and Regional Policy, Karmenu Vella and Corina Cretu, will visit the Struma Motorway construction site late this year or early next year. This transpired from remarks by Bulgarian Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova after the two Commissioners met her and three other Bulgarian government ministers: Ivaylo Moskovski for Transport, Neno Dimov for Environment and Nikolai Nankov for Regional Development.

Angelkova told Bulgarian reports in Brussels that the commissioners have been invited by Bulgaria.

Asked to comment why they have the second such meeting at the European Commission within only a couple of months, Nankov said they will come every month, if this is necessary. "We have made a commitment at expert and political level to report the progress of procedures and update them [at the Commission] on each stage and at every step until the project is successfully completed."

The four Bulgarian ministers briefed the commissioners on the progress of construction and the options for the motorway section in the Kresna Gorge.

They assured the European Commission that the procedure will be strictly implemented.

September 25 is the deadline for submitting objections following public discussions and the next step is a 30-day period for preparation of an environmental impact assessment report.

There are several options for the motorway rout via Kresna Gorge. The first - which emerges as almost everybody's choice, including the government's and the construction businesses', will have the Greece-bound carriageway using the existing route across Kresna Gorge and the Sofia-bound carriageway built on the mountain ridge over the gorge. Local people and an association of victims of road accidents are also supportive of this project.

Environmentalists are strongly opposed to it and argue that this option will harm the environment, incur sanctions on Bulgaria for that and waste European money. They also say that it will be hazardous for local people, who usually use slow-moving transport and the people who visit Kresna Gorge for its fine rafting opportunities.

"We have no illusions: not everybody will be happy with the project we pick," said Nankov.

The motorway is due for completion in 2023.

The speed limit for the Kresna Gorge stretch of the motorway will be 80 kmph in both directions.

The requisite documents for the Gorge section will be submitted to the European Commission by the end of January.

Moskovski said that the government's task now is to find the necessary co-financing. "Once a decision is made about the route, we will have more confidence that the available financing for the project is not in jeopardy," Moskovski commented.