site.btaSoutheastern European Ministers Adopt Shared Vision for Transport Connectivity

Southeastern European Ministers
Adopt Shared Vision
for Transport Connectivity


Varna, on the Black Sea, September 18 (BTA) - A Ministerial Road Transport Summit in Varna on Friday adopted a Shared Vision for better transport connectivity in Southeastern Europe. The meeting was attended by government ministers from Southeastern Europe and the Danube Region, representatives of EU institutions and members of NGOs and the academic community. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov also joined the proceedings.

Opening the summit, Bulgarian Regional Development and Public Works Minister Liliyana Pavlova said the event was the first of its kind, initiated and planned by her ministry in partnership with the Bulgarian Road Infrastructure Agency and the World Bank.

Bulgaria was also represented at the summit by Deputy Prime Minister for EU Funds and Economic Policy Tomislav Donchev, Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski and Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov. World Bank experts were at the meeting, too.

The participants agreed to boost regional integration by promoting effective transport connectivity in Southeastern Europe. The Shared Vision which they adopted says it is necessary to make road transport more efficient and sustainable as a way of strengthening the regional economy, and to render transport infrastructure safer, partly by systematic exchange of good practices among individual countries. The Vision recognizes the need to promote environmentally sustainable transport in order to reduce carbon emissions.

In conclusion, the participants in the meeting expressed their willingness to enhance cooperation among the countries in the region in view of building cleaner and more accessible transport systems which make people's lives better and easier.

Prime Minister Borissov told the Ministerial Road Transport Summit that his government is making great efforts to build good transport links with the neighbouring countries. Borissov said the new Maritsa Motorway in Southern Bulgaria will be unveiled within 20 days, and the Strouma Motorway in the southwest of the country will be completed in the near future. In the north, the Hemus Motorway will be a top priority in 2016.

Regional Development Minister Pavlova said the Bulgarian government is devising a new cutting-edge electronic system to replace the vignette toll system. The new technology will ensure more fairness, because those who use the roads more will pay more. World Bank experts are involved in the project, Pavlova said.

A new free mobile application will be launched in October to provide drivers with real-time road traffic information, she said.

Deputy PM Donchev said it is necessary to try to shape transport flows in Bulgaria rather than just go with them as they are. Donchev noted that the funding patterns of the old programming period (2007-2013) are being phased out, which means that new patterns must be sought.

Transport Minister Moskovski said the toll fees which are collected on vehicles transiting Bulgaria are far smaller than in other countries. For an average transit distance of 400 km, the daytime toll fee is only 10 euro. The annual proceeds from vignette tolls amount to 160 million leva, while the national road network needs 600 million leva every year in order to be maintained properly. A similar discrepancy exists in railway transport as well. All this puts a lot of strain on the national budget, Moskovski said. PK/VE