News

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.

I am convinced that people involved in road traffic must go through such training and exams, go through a needle's eye to acquire skills with which to avoid dramatic situations on the road. This was stated by the Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolay Sabev at a meeting with representatives of unions and associations of teachers in driving schools. Deputy Minister Nikolay Naydenov and Deputy Chairman of the State Agency for Road Safety Dimitar Iliev also took part in the discussion at the initiative of the Road Transport Administration Executive Agency.

The provisions of the Mobility Package I lead to negative economic consequences for road transport in the European Union. This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Vladimir Varbanov at a Round Table on Global Transport and the War in Ukraine in the framework of the International Transport Forum in Leipzig.

Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Vladimir Varbanov and the Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoglu confirmed that the Working Groups between the two countries have identified specific measures and steps to be taken to reach the final resolving of the issue. Both sides met in the framework of the International Transport Forum in Leipzig.

We are accelerating the steps towards the actual implementation of the measures identified under the Fast Danube Project. Together with Romania, we will seek European funding to create normal conditions for navigation on the Danube more days a year and with a greater capacity of ships in the next few years. This was stated by the Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolay Sabev during the Christening Ceremony of the newly built shunting ship "Iskar", owned by the Executive Agency for Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube River.

An inspection is underway, ordered by the Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolay Sabev, in connection with the signal spread by the Fighter Association to cover up irregularities in the activity of Union Ivkoni. The facts and circumstances surrounding the organization and implementation of inspections of the bus company, carried out over the years by employees of the Road Transport Administration Executive Agency, are being clarified.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications and the National Railway Infrastructure Company signed an Agreement to finance the project "Modernization of the railway line Sofia - Dragoman - Serbian border, railway section Voluyak - Dragoman - Phase 1". The financial assistance granted amounts to BGN 166.2 million, which will be provided by OPTTI 2014-2020.

The funds disbursed from the budget of OP "Transport and Transport Infrastructure" 2014-2020 are currently 1.08 billion euros, which is 62% of the total resource of the Program. The lowest absorption of funds is reported in railway projects - 33%. This became clear during the regular Meeting of the Monitoring Committee of OPTTI 2014-2020, which took place in the period 11-12 May in Sofia.

All construction companies that carry out their projects on schedule and with the required quality have our support. With the others, we will consider the possibility of terminating contracts and announcing new procedures in which we will invite the best international companies to participate. This was stated by the Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolay Sabev during an inspection of railway projects along Sofia-Plovdiv railway line.

BULATSA Academy resumed the session for participation in the selection for the position of Air Traffic Controller. From today to October 31, those wishing to apply for the profession can submit documents on the official website of BULATSA www.bulatsa.com.

The specialized non-self-propelled vessels are designed to carry out rescue operations in the common Bulgarian-Romanian section of the Danube, in case of incidents and disasters and in operations to limit and eliminate spills of petroleum products and hazardous substances. The barges have specialized equipment and will be positioned in the ports of Ruse and Lom, and their scope will cover the common Bulgarian-Romanian section of the river.

The Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolay Sabev met with the Ambassador of Ukraine to Bulgaria Vitaly Moskalenko.

The capacity of the Bulgarian transport infrastructure and the logistics sector were considered.

The meeting was also attended by Oleksandr Riepkin, Adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on economic diplomacy. He expressed sincere gratitude for Bulgaria's support in this difficult for Ukraine time.