site.btaGrant Funding Schemes Worth BGN 126 Mln to Target Green Transport

Two grant funding schemes for investing in green transport, to the aggregate amount of BGN 126 million, will be opened to businesses in 2024, Transport and Communications Minister Georgi Gvozdeikov said on Tuesday, as quoted by his ministry. Gvozdeikov was speaking at a business conference on "Smart, Green and Sustainable Transport and Logistics", organized by the Bulgarian Transport Press.

He noted: "We are offering the corporate community broader opportunities during the current programming period to engage in public-private partnerships for transport projects under the Transport Connectivity Programme."

He said one of the two grant funding schemes for green transport is designed for intermodal transport operators. It will offer BGN 34.5 million to build new intermodal transport terminals and upgrade existing ones. Another BGN 92 million will go towards projects for charging and fuelling stations for alternative fuels, which will be built by the side of roads and in harbours.

"We are formulating the terms of bidding. We will open the projects early next year," Gvozdeikov said.

He went on to note: "We are working hard to digitize the routine services for transport and logistics companies. We have proposed amendments to the Carriage by Road Act to provide for soft-copy bills of lading to have the same status as hard-copy ones. The proposal has been submitted to the National Assembly and a debate is coming up." The minister was adamant that electronic bills of lading will save a lot of time and resources for logistics firms and carriers and will lead to a major improvement of government control.

The logistics business conference, which had its 11th edition on Tuesday, brought together over 270 senior executives from 120 companies. Its focus was on the latest trends in developing and managing transport and logistic chains.