site.btaProtesters Block Part of Ruse-Svilengrad Road

Residents of the Obruchishte Village near Galabovo on Tuesday morning blocked a key junction in Galabovo, which is part of the road between Ruse (on the Danube, at Bulgaria’s border with Romania) and Svilengrad (at the border with Turkiye).

This latest in a series of protests is over the failure of the Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA) to meet its promise and start an overhaul of a 15.7 km road between Madrets and Obruchishte via Iskritsa and Mednikarovo in the first quarter of 2024.

The potholed road with compromised bridges, which has not been overhauled since 1976, is used daily by heavy car and truck traffic. Protests over this situation have been going on for more than seven years now.

RIA Management Board Chair Yordan Valchev told the protesters that a building permit is to be received until the end of this week and construction works can start within a fortnight thereafter.

The locals pitched a tent camp and threatened to block the road indefinitely until they see the beginning of building works. Only special-purpose vehicles will be let through.