Regional Minister Expects No More Delays to Launch of Maritsa Motorway

Bulgarian Regional Development Minister Lilyana Pavlova announced on Saturday that no more delays were expected to the completion and launch of the Maritsa Motorway.

Pavlova stated this during an inspection on the progress of construction works at a section of the motorway.

According to her, the final deadline for the completion of lot 1 between Orizovo and Topolovgrad was the end of September, which was not subject to further extension.

Initially, the project should have been completed in the late autumn of 2013, but since then the launch has been extended several times.

At present 68 % of the construction works have been fulfilled with most of the facilities having been completed, but the work on others was resumed only recently.

Lot 1 of Maritsa Motorway has a length of 31.4 kilometres and includes 22 large facilities - eight agricultural under-crossings, ten crossovers and four bridges.

The outlook for lot 2 from Dimitrovgrad to Harmanli is more optimistic, as 85 % of the the project have been fulfilled.

However this section is also experiencing serious delay, as it should have been completed in November 2014.

The construction works on three intersections, ten crossovers, thirteen under-crossings and two parkings have almost been completed.

At present efforts are concentrated on the completion of the bridge over the Harmanliyska river, which should be ready in May.