The inter-ministerial committee on rehabilitation and support to the Bulgarian Council of Ministers has approved the expenses for the repair works of the collapsed E-79 road connecting Bulgaria with Greece.

The committee has approved almost BGN 580,000 for rehabilitation of the E-79 road connecting Sofia with the Kulata-Promachonas crossing on the Greek border, which has been closed since December 5, after a landslide caused by floods led ones of its lanes to collapse into the Struma River.

The region of the Bulgarian city of Blagoevgrad will receive almost BGN 430,000 of compensation for the damages caused by the floods. The money will be spent on repairing the asphalt, cleaning sectors of the road, draining facilities and from landslides.

The Bulgarian police have redirected all traffic to the only close alternative route – through the Predela Pass and the Bansko winter resort and the town of Gotse Delchev to the Ilinden-Exochi crossing into Greece, which means going all the away around the entire Pirin Mountain.

The snowfall on Monday, however, has led the authorities to close the Predela Pass between the E-79 road and Bansko as the snow cover is already at 25 cm. The authorities are letting through cars but all trucks located south of Blagoevgrad remain stranded as they are not allowed to travel because of the hazardous road situation.

Trucks can still cross from Bulgaria into Greece at two crossings some 400 km to the east.