Bulgaria awards construction of last 89km of Hemus motorway to Avtomagistrali

The 88.9-km section begins near the Hemus motorway junction with road I-5 near the city of Veliko Tarnovo, in north-central Bulgaria and runs eastwards to the Buhovtsi-Belokopitovo section, which is currently under construction, RIA said in a statement.

The completion of Hemus motorway is a main priority in the management programme of Bulgaria's government as the future of northern Bulgaria and the modernisation of the region depends on the construction of the motorway which will create a fast and safe road link between the capital city of Sofia and Varna, on the Black Sea coast, RIA noted.

Earlier in December, Bulgaria's government pledged to allocate 1.38 billion levs for the design and construction of the 88.9-km section. The government will transfer 483 million levs to the regional development ministry's 2019 budget to finance the works, it said at the time.

The state funding will finance the design and construction of the motorway section by 2022.

Last year, Bulgaria signed a 1.3 billion levs contract with Avtomagistrali for the construction of some 134 km of Hemus motorway - a project that is still ongoing.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)