PM Zhelyazkov: REBIRTH28 Project Is Largest Investment in Port Infrastructure Since 2004

Diana Dukovska, BTA correspondent Galya Teneva

Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov visits the Burgas West Terminal in the port of Burgas for a ceremony marking the completion of the construction of a new deep-water berth (berth 28), April 23, 2025 (BTA Photo/Hristo Stefanov)

Burgas, on the Black Sea,

23.04.2025 19:39

(BTA)

Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov Wednesday said the REBIRTH28 project is the largest investment made in port infrastructure since 2004. He spoke at a ceremony marking the completion of the construction of a new deep-water berth (berth 28) at the Burgas West Terminal in the port of Burgas.

The project created a dedicated area for container handling and storage, along with low-emission solutions for moving cargo between ships and rail. The rail infrastructure at the terminal has also been upgraded to increase rail transport capacity to and from the port.

Zhelyazkov said this is a private investment that creates public infrastructure, which is and will remain public state property. "We should be grateful to the private partner, who gives a completely new dimension to the competitiveness of Bulgaria's maritime port transport economy and an impetus to the development of multi-modal transport through the expansion of the railway areas within this hub," he added.

The Prime Minister emphasized that this is a successful combination of EU and private funding.

"EUR 40 million in grants under the Connecting Europe Facility has attracted an equal amount of private capital. To this, we will add a further EUR 25 million investment dedicated to logistics operations at this hub. If we talk about the European Green Deal and the need for its revision, this is the example to follow because it is through competitiveness and reduced logistics time that we will achieve our goals, not through overregulation," said Zhelyazkov.

"This project is a convergence of multiple policies, a fusion of various principles, and above all, it gives us the satisfaction of feeling proud," the Prime Minister said.

Burgas has the privilege of being the city where public-private partnership is visibly bearing fruit, he said. "What we see today is truly something to celebrate. We have reclaimed more Bulgarian land from the sea, and we are enabling Burgas West to become the new hub for container transport in the Black Sea. There is not a single ship that can pass through the Bosphorus that would not be able to carry out its container operations here."

/KT/