Bulgaria's Trace Group Says Ranked First To Build 97 Mln Euro Underground Railway Section

“[The consortium] will build two metro stations and an underground parking facility under the Tsarigradsko Chaussee boulevard,” the company said in a statement.

The tender will officially close on November 1 and the consortium, Metro Trace, only is the first-ranked bidder for the time being, the head of the Metropolitan underground railway operator, Stoyan Bratoev, told SeeNews.

Metro Trace will start building another 2.6-kilometre stretch of the underground with three stations worth a total of 142 million levs in December, the statement said.

Trace Group has already completed one of the eight operating metro stations in Sofia, a city of more than 1.5 million people according to unofficial estimates. Metropolitan currently operates a single 10-kilometre underground railway, serving some 75,000-80,000 passengers daily.

The underground railway system of the Bulgarian capital is planned to reach some 31 kilometres in 2012, when it is expected to serve more than 420,000 passengers per day.

Shares in Trace Group closed 0.8% down at 54.1 levs on Thursday.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)