Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov launched the construction of a section of Trakiya Highway, linking the city of Stara Zagora and the town of Nova Zagora, with a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday.

Bulgaria’s tie-in "Unified Highway Trace" won the tender for the construction of the new 32-kilometer-long section of the Trakiya Highway at the end of February and a month later signed a contract with the Bulgarian Road Infrastructure Agency.

The Bulgarian consortium submitted the lowest bid - BGN 137,86 M – in competition with three other approved applicants. 4 000 jobs will be created by the project in the Stara Zagora region.

Construction works are scheduled to be completed in 25 months. The price of the construction is estimated at about BGN 138 M, 30-35 % of the funds will be made available by the end of the year.

The project will be funded entirely by the state budget until Brussels approves funding under the Operational ‘Transport’ Program.

Construction of the second stretch of the Trakiya Highway, connecting the towns of Nova Zagora and Yambol, is scheduled to begin no later than August 2010.

Eleven bidders are vying in the tender with price offers, which are expected to be opened on May 27. The preliminary cost of the project has been estimated at BGN 216 M.

Bidders for the third and final section of the highway, linking the towns of Yambol and Karnobat, are to submit offers by July 7. The costs have been estimated at BGN 247 M.

Though still under construction Trakiya is the Bulgarian highway project which is closest to completion. It will connect the capital Sofia with the Black Sea city of Burgas. A total of 328 km of the 443-km highway have already been built.

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