News

The Bulgarian side highly appreciates Austria's achievements in the International Civil Aviation Organization and will support its candidacy for the ICAO Council in the upcoming elections in the period 27 September - 7 October 2022. This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Vladimir Varbanov during a Meeting with the Ambassadors of Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and the Chargés d'аffaires of the Embassies of Portugal and Belgium, to present the Austrian candidacy.

"BDZ- Freight Transport" EOOD initiates talks with the World Bank for the implementation of its investment program for the period until 2024. The company will negotiate for attracting up to 400 million BGN capital. The funds are needed for the acquisition of 5 new electric and 15 diesel locomotives, as well as 600 specialized freight cars. Investments in rolling stock and railway infrastructure are a top priority of the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

The program envisages major repairs of 10 units of locomotives and 250 units of freight cars.

At the initiative of the Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolay Sabev, at the beginning of the year, negotiations were launched with the French Republic to send to Bulgaria a high-level international expert to advise and support the reforms carried out in the national railway undertaking.

The Bulgarian side is ready to provide airport fee incentives and suitable time slots for landing and take-off for air carriers to carry out regular flights between Sofia and Riyadh and Varna - Dammam. This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Vladimir Varbanov during a meeting today with the Deputy Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Minister Plenipotentiary H.E. Naif bin Asai.

In a joint operation by the Road Transport Administration Executive Agency , the Ministry of the Interior and the National Revenue Agency, two cars were taken off the road for one year for carrying out unregulated passenger transport through the "Maxim" application. The registration plates of the vehicles were removed, the documents of the cars and the drivers were seized. The imposed sanction for this type of violation is BGN 2,000. Pre-trial proceedings have been initiated for the cases.

For the second consecutive quarter, the national railway carrier reported an increase in its revenues. For the first 6 months of the year, the accounting profit of the entire BDZ Holding EAD group is BGN 13,256,000. The group, which includes " BDZ Passenger Services“ EOOD ",  "BDZ Cargo” EOOD and "BDZ Holding" EAD, is making a profit for the first time in 10 years.

Civil Aviation Administration Directorate General allowed aerial photography flights in Bulgarian airspace to update the Google database. The flights will start on July 23 in the Plovdiv region. They will continue until September 30, 2022, covering the cities of Sofia and Varna. The planes are scheduled to fly at an altitude of over 1,000 meters, depending on weather conditions. This type of flight is specific and requires multiple overflights over the specified settlements.

The European Commission approved the project for the modernization of the Voluyak-Dragoman railway line, which is part of the Railway Corridor to the border with Serbia. The project has a total value of BGN 166.2 million, which will be provided by OPTTI 2014-2020. Of these, BGN 130.2 million are European funds.

In May of this year the Government allowed the conclusion of a Financing Contract between MTC and the beneficiary National Railway Infrastructure Company (NRIC), before the final approval of the project by the EC, which is already a fact.

The Minister of Transport and Communications signed a Decision on conversion and approved the Contract for the creation of "National Company Bulgarian State Railways" EAD. The transformation was implemented by merging "BDZ-Passenger Transport" EOOD and "BDZ-Freight Transport " EOOD into "Holding Bulgarian State Railways" EAD and renaming it.

In February, Minister Nikolay Sabev presented the future restructuring, part of the large-scale change in Bulgaria's transport system.

National Railway Infrastructure Company (NRIC) has announced market consultations for the implementation of the European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS) - level 2, in the Ruse-Kaspichan railway section. The project includes the activities of design, supply, construction and commissioning of new systems for ERTMS level 2, dispatch management, security equipment, telecommunications, GSM-R/FRMCS, passenger announcement systems and information electronic boards, clock system, video surveillance of stations and railway crossings, etc.

Bulgaria and Romania will work together to ensure the necessary navigability of the Danube River, it became clear during the meeting today in Ruse. The host of the meeting, on the initiative of the European Commission and the Danube Commission, was the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Vladimir Varbanov.

The Government adopted a decision to terminate Plovdiv Railway Station Concession Contract. The proposal to terminate the contract was made by the concessionaire. Plovdiv Railway Station Concession Contract was concluded in 2013 and entered into force in 2015. The reason for the termination of the Concession Contract was the construction activities started by the National Railway Infrastructure Company (NRIC)on the territory of the station under the Plovdiv Railway Junction Development Project, which is financed with funds from the EU.

Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolay Sabev suggested that the requirement to replace the electronic taxi devices be postponed by 6 months. With the provision that came into force on July 8, 2022, electronic taxi devices must have assessed compliance under the Law on Technical Requirements for Products.

For the first time in many years, the Executive Agency for Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube River (EAEMDR) began to carry out dredging on its own in the Bulgarian section of the Danube River. The dredging activities started after targeted funding from the Ministry of Transport and Communications to EAEMDR. In this way, the commitments undertaken by the Bulgarian side to ensure the navigability of the Danube River are fulfilled.

"Port of Varna" EAD will continue to implement the policy pursued by the Ministry of Transport and Communications in relation to the commitment to Ukraine for handling grain cargoes, the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Vladimir Varbanov stated.

"I will demand from the newly appointed Executive Director of the Port, Ivaylo Gavrailov, to implement a flexible and active commercial policy in order to comply with our expectations", Varbanov added.

Funding opportunities in upcoming competitions under the Connecting Europe Facility and Digital Europe Program were presented today at the Euro Techno Info Day. The Ministry of Transport and Communications announced the topics and application requirements in advance to give companies and organizations time to prepare successfully.

This is the largest procedure launched under the Recovery and Resilience Plan. The deadline for receipt of proposals from all interested parties is 30 June 2022. The total number of proposals received across all 5 calls is 32.

Small and medium-sized companies in the field of telecommunications and licensed Internet service providers can use an investment loan from the Bulgarian Development Bank. The initiative to create the financial instrument belongs to the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

A guarantee has been provided by the Pan-European Guarantee Fund, under a program of the European Investment Fund, for direct financing of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

Investment loans range are from BGN 100,000 to BGN 1,000,000.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications is organizing an information day for Bulgarian companies and organizations, at which the rules for participation and the possibilities for financing under European programs in the field of digital and transport connectivity will be presented. The Connecting Europe Facility and the Digital Europe program provide a total of more than 470 million euros for projects.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications launches market research on delivery and maintenance of new electric multiple units, locomotives  and ETCS on-board equipment.

The new rolling stock includes 42 electric trains, 20 push-pull electric trainsets, 18 pcs. electric battery shunting locomotives and 108 ETCS on-board equipment. The total planned financial resource is over 1 billion BGN and will be provided from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.