Bulgaria’s Deputy Minister of Transport, Anguel Popov, said that the country needs EUR 4 billion to improve transport links with the neighboring countries, and for this, the Cohesion Fund and the European Regional Development Fund are very important financing tools.
“Even after 2020 the Bulgarian side will continue working on the construction of the north-south railway infrastructure from Vidin to Kulata [in southwestern Bulgaria] as well as the connections to our western neighbors Serbia and Macedonia. The funds needed for these projects are just over EUR 4 billion,” Popov said.
Among Bulgaria’s important transport projects include the improvement of the railway connections in Northern Bulgaria, and “depending on the funds that will be provided in the next programming period, opportunities for the preparation and modernization of the Ruse – Varna, Sofia – Varna and Ruse -Dimitrovgrad railway lines will be sought,” Popov explained.
Currently, the European funding is used for priority corridors from the TEN-T which pass through the territory of Bulgaria, such as Orient/East-Mediterranean and Rhine-Danube corridors. “We are expecting at the end of the current programming period to have a fully completed rail connection, providing modern transport conditions from Sofia via Plovdiv to Burgas and to Svilengrad – Turkish/Greek border”, Anguel Popov said.
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