site.btaUPDATED Regional Development, Transport Ministers to Inspect Europe Motorway between Kalotina and Dragoman

Regional Development and Public Works Minister Andrey Tsekov, Transport and Communications Minister Georgi Gvozdeykov and Chairman of the Management Board of the Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA) Eng. Yasen Yordanov will inspect at 3 p.m. on Wednesday the 14.5 kilometre section of the Europe Motorway from Kalotina to Dragoman, the Regional Development and Public Works Ministry said.

The contractor of the section from Kalotina to Dragoman is the STRABAG BPA joint company, which includes the companies Strabag EAD, Strabag Poland and Bitumina GmbH-Bulgaria. A representative of the contractor has confirmed to BTA that despite the experienced difficulties and after the expropriation of land and as a result of many talks with the then regional minister Shishkov, after the issuance of a certificate confirming the completion of work (Act 15), the company will continue the construction of the next section of the motorway.

The value of the contract of STRABAG BPA is nearly BGN 165 million including value added tax (VAT). The construction supervision was carried out by NADZOR CALOTINA - SOP joint compnay, with participants Transconsult-BG and Patinvest-engineering. Their contract is in the amount of BGN 3,708,600 including VAT, the Ministry of Regional Development specifies. 

The commission appointed by the RIA has signed Act 15, a State Acceptance Commission is to be appointed for the issuance of a certificate confirming that the work is fit for commissioning (Act 16) and the permit for use by the Directorate for National Construction Control (DNCC).

The project for finalizing the road is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union and the state budget. The section has two traffic lanes and one emergency stop lane in both directions with a total gauge of 25.5 m, except for the section from the 3rd to the 4th km, which has no emergency lane and a total gauge of 20.5 m.

A railway overpass and seven agricultural overpasses and underpasses, a wildlife overpass and other road structures have been constructed. Four new road junctions - Kalotina, Turmashka Mahala, Dragoman West and Dragoman East - provide access to the settlements near the section. Retaining walls have been built along the entire stretch and the riverbed of the Ezhovitsa river has been corrected, with the newly built roadway covering the river in a 600 m stretch, the Ministry of Regional Development and Regional Development said in their press release.

The reconstruction of the section started in February 2020.