The main function of the Regional Development Ministry is to invest Bulgarian taxpayers' money in infrastructure that improves their way of life, outgoing Regional Development and Public Works Minister Andrey Tsekov said during the report on the work done by the government in the past nine months.
The priority over the next nine months is aimed at making substantial progress in the development of the country's motorway network, the minister said. Having managed to make progress on the design and budgeting of all motorways in the first nine months, the main objective in the second period will be to make further tangible progress in their implementation and open new motorway sections of between 60 and 96 kilometres to traffic by the end of 2024, Tsekov said.
By the end of 2024, the Europe Motorway will be fully completed and the 15-kilometre section connecting Sofia and Slivnitsa will be built within 2024, the minister said. Significant progress is also expected on the motorway connecting Vidin and Botevgrad, he added. In his words, by the end of the year, the 32-kilometre route connecting Mezdra and Botevgrad will be put into operation and opened to traffic, and the 30-kilometre section connecting Vidin with the Makresh road junction is expected to be completed within the year.
Regarding the Struma Motorway, the minister said that within this year it is realistic to complete the remaining small section of three kilometres between Simitli and Krupnik, which, in his words, was "hostage to the long-delayed decision on the Struma motorway route". The project received green light from the European Commission on March 1.
Regarding the Hemus Motorway, the minister said that the construction has been secured in the budget and in March it will resume in sections one to three - the link to Pleven. Within 2024 it is quite realistic to complete the first section of the motorway - about 16 km, between the Boaza pass and the road to Lovech and Ugarchin, for all other sections one to three the work will start in the coming days, the minister said. For the sections between Pleven and Veliko Tarnovo, we expect the issuance of a construction permit within the first half of this year, which will enable construction to start on these sections in the summer, Tsekov said.
After the start of the construction of the motorway between Ruse and Byala in 2023, Tsekov said he expected work on the entire route to be announced in 2024.
On the subject of municipal development, the minister noted the capital programme for investment in municipal infrastructure worth over BGN 4 billion over a three-year period. It involves 1,625 projects, the implementation and contracting of which is administered by the Regional Development Ministry. Tsekov said that within 40 days, 942 applications have been submitted to the Ministry, 875 have been processed, 565 agreements have been prepared for the objects for which full project readiness has been established. He said that within the next week over 400 agreements will be signed with municipalities.
Another priority Tsekov outlined was the adoption of a national legislative institutional framework on the programming, planning, management and control of investments with national budget funds, similar to the rules applied to investments from the European Union funds.
/YV/
news.modal.text
