February 8 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria has applied for EU funding for two projects worth a combined 205 million levs ($112 million/105 million euro) for the construction of a motorway stretch as well as the reconstruction of two railway sections, the transport ministry said on Wednesday.
A project, developed by state-owned National Railway Infrastructure Company, envisages the reconstruction of the two railway stretches, connecting Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second largest city, with the towns of Krumovo and Skutare, in southern Bulgaria, the transport ministry said in a statement.
The project has an estimated value of 115 million euro, 85% of which is to be provided by the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for Transport, should the project be approved.
The other project, developed by the government's Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA), plans the construction of a 15-kilometer motorway section, connecting the Kalotina crossing point on Bulgaria’s border with Serbia, with the town of Dragoman. The project also provides for the widening and improving of the existing road, so it could allow speeds of up to 100 km/h.
The section is part of a planned motorway that will link Kalotina crossing point with Bulgaria's capital Sofia.
Bulgaria is seeking 40 million euro of CEF financing for the project, which will cost a total of 90 million euro.
Whether the projects will be approved should be announced by mid-2017, the transport ministry said.
The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for Transport is the funding instrument to realise European transport infrastructure policy. With a total budget of 24.05 billion euro for the 2014-2020 period, the instrument aims at supporting investments in building new transport infrastructure in Europe or rehabilitating and upgrading the existing one.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)