site.btaBulgaria Puts Off Toll System Start for 2019

Sofia, July 15 (BTA) - The development of a toll tax system in Bulgaria has been put off for 2019. This emerged from remarks by Regional Development Minister Nikolai Nankov on Nova TV on Saturday. "In the beginning of 2019 Bulgaria should have the resources to develop such a system," he said.

So far, the plan has been to complete system in 2018, but it is now clear this cannot happen.

The introduction of the system is delayed because of numerous appeals of the procedure for selection of contractor, Nankov said.

Having been opened in April 2000, the award of the 200 million leva contract has been postponed multiple times, the last time being in May 2017.

"The appeals mainly come from foreign companies," Nankov told Nova TV.

Once the toll system becomes operational, heavy-duty trucks will pay based on the distance they drive and the motor vehicles with an e-vignette based on time. It requires seven months to be introduced and another 12 for testing.

Nankov explained that the delay of the toll system causes loss of revenue of the amount of some 1.5 million leva a day: money which would have been used to build new motorways and maintain the existing ones.