Bulgaria Likely to Lose BGN 24M under Operational Program Transport

Bulgaria may lose EU funding of BGN 24M under the "Transport" Operational Program, according to Nikolina Angelkova, caretaker Transport Minister.

Angelkova announced that she had received a preliminary audit report from the European Commission on Friday and that her team had two months to correct the errors in infrastructure projects to reduce the amount which EC could cut.

She said that 63% of the funding under Transport OP, or nearly BGN 2.5B, had been distributed and paid out.

"This is a preliminary report and we have two months to respond to all findings in it in order to minimize the financial correction or cancel it altogether," Bulgaria's caretaker Transport Minister stated.

She added that the minimization of losses under the operational program was a priority task of the Transport Ministry.

"If we manage to pay out EUR 82 M by end-2014, we shall have no problems with EU funds absorption," Angelkova stated, as cited by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency.

She noted that the exact amount of potential losses under high-risk projects was being calculated.

Angelkova explained that an inspection was about to be launched into the delayed projects for the construction of Lot 4 of the Struma motorway, Lot 1 of the Maritsa motorway, and the Plovdiv-Svilengrad railway line.

She vowed to work on the Connecting Europe Facility as a priority task, and the routes Vidin-Sofia and Sofia-Dragoman in particular.

Angelkova also informed that the Transport Ministry was hoping to complete a railway project and a Danube navigation project by September.

She also pledged an in-depth analysis of the financial state of the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) company and the National Railway Infrastructure Company.