Minister Moskovski urges German investors to pour money into Bulgaria's ports and airports
01.12.2011
Bulgaria's Transport and IT Minister Ivaylo Moskovski has called upon German investors to take part in the concessions of Bulgarian ports and airports. That became clear after the meeting with Klaus-Dieter Scheurle, State Secretary of Germany's Ministry for Transport, Construction and Urban Planning in Berlin on Thursday and Bulgarian Transport Minister – Ivaylo Moskovski. This is the highest level meeting of the transport authorities of Bulgaria and Germany in the past five years.
"The program of the Bulgarian government provides for granting the Bulgarian ports and airports on 35-year concessions since the national budget does not have sufficient funds for investments," Moskovski explained in Berlin. He expressed Bulgaria's hopes that German companies will take part in public-private partnerships in Bulgaria.
The German side has assured the Bulgarian Transport Minister that German companies will study in detail the investment opportunities in Bulgaria. "Germany's government supports Bulgaria's decision to grant its airport and port infrastructure on concession, and I am certain that German companies will be interested, which will help to improve even further the ties between Bulgaria and Germany," Sheurle is quoted as saying.
Minister Moskovski described as an unprecedented investments in railway infrastructure in Bulgaria. "We have invested over 600 million in rail infrastructure, especially in directions that are part of European transport corridors," said Minister Moskovski. According to him, this will allow speeds of 160 to 200 km /h. He expressed confidence that the next programming period 2014-2020 "Railways - Passenger services" will be beneficiaries of Operational Programme "Transport" and may apply for more than 300 million project funding. |