site.btaMontana Bypass Road Built with 48.5 Million Leva European Investments Unveiled

Montana Bypass Road Built with 48.5 Million Leva European Investments Unveiled

Montana, Northwestern Bulgaria, December 29 (BTA) - Tuesday saw the official launching of a bypass road in Montana built with 48.5 million leva in EU funding. The road was opened by Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Regional Development and Public Works Minister Lilyana Pavlova, Transport Minister Ivailo Moskovski and Montana Mayor Zlatko Zhivkov.

Pavlova said that the road is a 13 km long two-lane road. It is important for Montana as it will divert from the city centre the heavy lorries going in the direction of Sofia and the Vidin-Kalafat bridge over the Danube.

Pavlova said also that the delay in the absorption of funding under the Road Axis of the Transport Operational Programme (OP) 2007-2013 has been eliminated in the span of one year and the money has been 100 per cent absorbed. The funding under this axis of the Programme went towards construction of 300 km new motorways, bypass roads in Montana, Vratsa, Gabrovo, and Kurdjali. The bypass road in Berkovitsa, near Montana, will be opened soon, and roadworks of the road going via the Petrohan Pass in the Balkan Range will be finished. In the coming years Montana will be able to get 20 million leva under the Regions in Growth OP while the nearby Lom Municipality will get 18 million leva, Pavlova said.

Moskovski said that the absorption of funding under the Transport OP will reach and exceed 95 per cent. The Minister said also that many new roads are going to be built in Northwestern Bulgaria and the area will start to look differently and attract investors.

Zhivkov thanked the Prime Minister and the cabinet for the big investments made in Montana during the year: 52 million leva in the urban water cycle, 48.5 million leva in the bypass road and other investments in a total of 30 projects.

Borissov said that thanks to the efforts of the government and the institutions, 2,700 million leva more budget revenue was collected during the year. The Prime Minister urged the local administrations to be more active in applying for funding for energy efficiency projects to which end 2,000 million leva have been allocated.