Bulgarian Minister Complains of Shortage of Funding under OP Transport 2014-2020

Bulgaria's Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski has argued that the funds under the 2014-2020 operational program Transport will be insufficient for the projects.

He claimed that the implementation of the projects would require supplementary funding in the form of state budget money, loans, and private investments.

Moskovski, as cited by the Bulgarian National Radio, suggested Tuesday that the priority tasks under operational program Transport 2014-2020 were the completion of the Struma motorway and a number of railway sections.

He informed that railway infrastructure projects included rotes from Plovdiv and Septemvri, to Sofia and on to the Bulgaria-Serbia border.

Moskovski said that any savings from the tender procedures for the Struma motorway would be redirected to the Hemus motorway and the Shipka Pass Tunnel projects.

He specified that the construction of the extension of the Hemus motorway would initially be financed with money from the state budget.

Moskovski pointed out that work on the completion of projects proceeded faster than the provision of funding and therefore there were problems with the implementation of some projects.

He said that the shortage of funding under the operational program would be compensated through public-private partnership.

Bulgaria's Transport Minister also announced that the stabilization program for the state-owned Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) company would be presented next week and would be submitted to the parliamentary transport committee.