December 12 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's government said on Wednesday that it will transfer an additional 1.34 billion levs ($777.4 million/685.1 million euro) from this year's central budget to the regional development ministry for the construction of 134.2 kilometres of Hemus motorway from Boaza road junction to the city of Veliko Tarnovo.
The sum will be allocated to the construction of the motorway section linking the Boaza junction some 100 km east of Sofia to the junction with the road connecting the cities of Ruse and Veliko Tarnovo, in northern Bulgaria, the government said in a statement following its weekly meeting.
The completion of the 420-km motorway, connecting the capital Sofia to Varna, on the Black Sea coast, is among the government's top priorities as it will underpin the development and modernisation of northern Bulgaria, it said.
Nearly 170 km of Hemus motorway have already been built, while a further 26 km are currently under construction.
In addition, the government also decided on Wednesday to transfer 158 million levs to the regional development ministry for the reconstruction of several major roads, including Slantchev Bryag-Burgas (along the Black Sea coast), Plovdiv-Asenovgrad (in southern Bulgaria) and the bypass road of Aheloy (on the Black Sea coast).
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)