SOFIA (Bulgaria), June 8 (SeeNews) – The European Commission (EC) said on Thursday it approved an investment of 86.6 million euro ($97.2 million) for the construction of four new underground stations on a 4 km section of Sofia's subway.
The section, part of line 3 of the Sofia subway, will connect the city centre to Sofia ring road via the Ovcha Kupel district, the Commission said in a statement.
The project was subject to an appraisal and a specific decision by the European Commission as its value is over 50 million euro and is thus classified a “major project” under EU legislation.
Last year, the Commission approved an investment of over 368 million euro for the construction of an 8 kilometre section of the third line of Sofia subway, along with 8 stations and 20 metro trains.
When complete, the third line is expected to be 16 km-long with 19 stations, bringing the total Sofia subway network to 56 km of lines and 53 stations by 2020.
Nearly 500 million of EU funds were invested in the first two lines of the Sofia subway during the 2007-2013 funding period.
($ = 0.8909 euro)