January 15 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's regional development ministry said it signed on Monday a 150 million levs ($90.2 million/76.7 million euro) contract with a consortium led by Austria's Kapsch Group to develop and introduce an electronic road-toll collection system.
The consortium will get paid from the road-toll revenue after the successful introduction of the system, the ministry said in a statement.
The system must be introduced within 19 months.
Revenue is projected at 1.0 billion levs in the first year following the system's introduction.
The government's Road Infrastructure Agency selected Kapsch Group to develop and introduce the electronic tolling system in Bulgaria in October. However, the procedure was blocked shortly after by complaints from two tie-ups - Tollnet and BG Pat, according to data from the country's competition authority. The tender for the introduction of an e-toll collection system was first launched in April 2016 but was suspended and restarted several times due to complaints filed with the ant-trust body.
The e-tolling system will cover 16,317 km of motorways and major roads in Bulgaria. Vehicles heavier than 3.5 tonnes will pay toll charges based on distance travelled, while charges for lighter vehicles will be set for certain periods of time.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)