Bulgaria seeks public – private funding for highway connecting Romanian border to Turkey

The Bulgarian government plans to build a highway that will connect the border between Romania and Bulgaria- from Ruse to Turkey as a public – private partnership project, according to the Bulgarian Minister of Regional Development Liliana Pavlova. She said that the investment required for the 300-kilometer highway will be between EUR 500 million and 1 billion, according to international media.

The Regional Development Minister estimated that the preparation of the paperwork could take as long as a year, adding another six months for the tender process and around 2 years for the construction, according to Bulgarian newswire Novinite. Bulgarian authorities had already consulted for this project with investors from Qatar, China and Oman. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Khaled al-Attiyah said, during a visit in Sofia last week that his country was interested to participate in this project. About 7,000 vehicles, mostly trucks pass every day through Bulgaria on the way to Turkey. Ioana Toader, ioana.toader@romania-insider.com