site.btaGovernment Adopts Roadmap for Completion of Struma Motorway

Meeting here on Wednesday, the Council of Ministers adopted a Roadmap for the completion of Struma Motorway. It assigns specific actions for the implementation of the project, responsible institutions as well as deadlines, the Government Information Service reported.

The implementation of the Roadmap will be monitored by a permanent expert group, which will include the competent institutions in the form of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, the Road Infrastructure Agency, the Ministry of Environment and Water, the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the State Agency for Road Safety, as well as representatives of the Coalition to Save the Kresna Gorge (the Coalition) as stakeholders. The group will be formed by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Grozdan Karadzhov.

On the recommendation of the Berne Convention, the Roadmap has been developed jointly between the Bulgarian authorities and the Coalition, and with the cooperation of the Convention Secretariat, agreement has been reached between the two parties on the need to move forward with the completion of the motorway.

According to the timetable set out in the Roadmap, in February 2025 a public procurement procedure will be held for the preparation of a conceptual design for the Sofia-Kulata route in the Simitli-Kresna section outside the Kresna Gorge. The month of June is the indicative deadline for concluding a contract with a contractor, and at least half a year will be needed for implementation.

The completion of the Struma Motorway is directly linked to national security as it provides transport connectivity with neighbouring Romania and Greece, which are members of the European Union and NATO.