July 11 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria has earmarked 92 million levs ($51.8 million/47 million euro) for the construction of 160 charging stations for electric vehicles (EV) on roads across the country as well as four at national ports, the transport ministry told SeeNews on Tuesday.
As much as 40 million euro ($44 million) of the project's total value will be covered by EU grants provided under the operational programme Transport Connectivity for the 2021-2027 period, the ministry told SeeNews in an emailed statement.
The programme's total budget amounts to 3.72 billion levs, which will be deployed to improve the country's road and rail infrastructure, the ministry said in a separate press release on Monday.
The government will invest in the purchase of seven double-deck and 35 single-deck electric locomotives, 20 single-deck push-pull trains, 18 electric shunting locomotives, in addition to on-board equipment for 108 electric and standard locomotives. A revised public tender for rolling stock should be launched by the end of this month, according to the press release.
The winner of a public procurement tender worth an indicative 54 million levs for the construction of an intermodal terminal at the Danube port of Ruse is expected to be selected by September, the ministry added.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)