SOFIA (Bulgaria), June 21 (SeeNews) – Bulgaria will select a contractor for the construction of a 21-kilometre stretch of Struma motorway between the towns of Krupnik and Kresna by April 2019 at the latest, so as to avoid losing EU financing for the project, the regional development ministry said on Wednesday.
The project, which benefits from EU financing under Operational Programme Transport and Transport Infrastructure 2014-2020, must be completed by December 2023 in order to comply with the programme's requirements, the regional development ministry said in a statement, following a meeting of regional development minister Nikolay Nankov and tourism minister Nicolina Angelkova with European Commissioners Corina Cretu and Karmenu Vella.
Under an optimistic scenario, a contractor for the construction of the 21-killometre stretch, dubbed Lot 3.2, might be selected by December 2018, according to the statement.
The route for the 21-kilometre stretch is yet to be determined.
The construction of the motorway is divided into four sections, three of which three have already been completed: Dolna Dikanya – Dupnitsa (16.8 km), Dupnitsa – Blagoevgrad (37.4 km) and Sandanski-Kulata checkpoint at the border with Greece (14.7 km).
The remaining stretch, Blagoevgrad – Sandanski, dubbed Lot 3, is 62 kilometres long. Lot 3 includes the construction of the 2 km-long Zheleznitsa tunnel, which would be the longest in the country.