Bulgaria eyes PPP model for up to 500 mln euro truck tolling system

"We are looking for heavyweights, partners capable of making a serious investment of 200, 300, maybe 500 million euro, depending on the estimated cost of building such a system," Lilyana Pavlova told reporters on the sidelines of the Southeast Europe Business Forum.

The 2012 edition of the forum, organised by the Bulgaria Economic Forum, took place in Istanbul on November 22-23. SeeNews was media partner of the event.

The size of the toll, which will be payable only by trucks transiting the country via major roads, will be tied to the distance travelled and not to the time spent on Bulgarian territory, Pavlova added.

The tolling system will most likely be introduced first on the planned highway between Ruse, on the Danube, and Svilengrad, on the Turkish border, for whose construction Bulgaria is holding talks with Qatar. However, this is unlikely to happen sooner than in three or four years, as the implementation of such a big investment project takes time, Pavlova said.

($=0.7709 euro)