September 11 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's regional development ministry said on Wednesday that on September 10 it decided to rank first a 133 million levs ($74.9 million/68.0 million euro) offer by a local tie-up in a tender for awarding a contract for construction of a 19.3-kilometre section of the Mezdra-Botevgrad road.
The winning tie-up comprises local companies Geostroy and Patstroy-92, the ministry said in a statement.
According to registry agency data, Geostroy holds a 60% stake in the winning tie-up, while Patstroy-92 controls the remaining 40% interest.
The tender attracted six offers.
The remaining 13-km section of the Mezdra-Botevgrad road will be built by a tie-up between local Evropeiski Patishta and Vodno Stroitelstvo - Botevgrad, as well as Slovakia's Vahostav-SK. The 222.5 million levs contract was signed last week.
According to registry agency data, Bulgaria's Evropeiski Patishta controls an 80% stake in the winning tie-up, Vodno Stroitelstvo - Botevgrad holds 19%, while Vahostav-SK has 1% interest.
Earlier on Wednesday, Bulgaria's government said that it will allocate up to 419.3 million levs to finance the modernisation of the Mezdra-Botevgrad road, in the country's northwest. The funds will come from sales of electronic vignettes and the planned introduction of an electronic tolling system for vehicles weighing over 3.5 tonnes.
In order for construction works to start this year, the government decided to increase the size of the commitments which the regional development ministry can make.
The Mezdra-Botevgrad road is part of the 167-km Vidin-Botevgrad road, which sees intensive traffic from the bridge over the Danube near Vidin, connecting Bulgaria and Romania.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)