SOFIA (Bulgaria), September 10 (SeeNews) – The Bulgarian government said on Wednesday it will allocate a further 11.5 million levs ($7.6 million/5.9 million euro) from this year's state budget to the construction of Hemus and Maritsa motorways.
The government earmarked 8.5 million levs for the construction of Belokopitovo-Kaspichan section of Hemus motorway and another 3.0 million levs for one lane of a nine-kilometre (km) section of Maritsa motorway, it said in a statement after a regular meeting.
Bulgaria has awarded a 65.8 million lev contract for the construction of the 4.9 km Belokopitovo - Kaspichan section to local company Avtomagistrali-Tcherno More.
The Hemus motorway will run across northern Bulgaria, connecting the capital Sofia with Varna, on the Black Sea coast. The planned length of the highway, which should be completed by 2020, is 433 km.
The construction of Maritsa motorway, which started in 2011, is estimated to cost some 204 million euro. It is 80%-financed under the EU-funded Cohesion fund with the remainder of the costs covered by the state budget.
(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)