All Financing Agreements on the Metro have been signed in Sofia. It became clear during the Seventh Meeting of the Monitoring Committee of OP on “Transport and Transport Infrastructure”, which took place in the period 6 - 7 June in Sandanski. The financial resources provided under OPTTI for the construction of the third metro line are slightly over 400 million euro. "At the end of May will start the construction of the second stage, which includes 4 new metro stations to Gorna Banya residential area”, pointed out Galina Vassileva. 32% is the physical progress of the first stage with 8 metro stations from “Vladimir Vazov” Blvd to Krasno Selo residential area. Both stages are expected to be completed by the end of 2019.
Eng. Stoyan Bratoev pointed out that the traffic will be restored gradually in the areas where will be built the new metro stations of Stage 1. "We have restored the traffic along “Bulgaria” Blvd. and within a week will be released the traffic along „Patriarch Evtimii” Blvd. and at Orlov Most", he added.
Galina Vassileva reported that under the program are financed 6 large projects, which account for 88% of the program budget. "Tender procedures for all major projects should be launched by the end of the year in order to ensure their implementation within the programming period," said Vassileva.
During the meeting it became obvious that by the end of June will be announced the procedure for modernization of the railway line Elin Pelin - Kostenets. The project aims at removing bottlenecks in the direction in order to increase the speed of the trains. This necessitates the displacement of the tracks in some sections and the construction of a number of facilities to cross the complex terrain.
At the end of May the Managing Authority of the program approved the application form for Lot 3.1, Lot 3.3 and “Zheleznitsa” Tunnel and the document was sent to the European Commission for review, reported Galina Vassileva. She said that a few days ago the “Road Infrastructure” Agency has submitted for review and approval to MOEW the EIA report for Lot 3.2 of the motorway and an opinion is expected. Doncho Atanassov, Chairman of the Managing Board of the “Road Infrastructure” Agency, said that within one month the agency will re-announce the tendering procedure for the construction of “Zheleznitsa” tunnel with a term of execution of 1000 days. He added that there is no risk of the project being implemented beyond the program period.
On the first day of the meeting of the Committee was carried out an inspection of the construction of Lot 3.3 of Struma Motorway between Kresna and Sandanski. It became clear from the on-site visit that the physical progress of the site is over 35% and the section is expected to be completed by May 2018. The representatives of the committee also visited the archaeological excavations that were found near the village of Mikrevo. A settlement, dated from 7,000 years ago, was found there and archaeologists are currently exploring the terrain.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the European Commission, Jaspers, the European Investment Bank, the Managing Authority, the beneficiaries, the local and the executive authorities, the non-governmental sector, trade unions and others.
