The prime ministers of Bulgaria, Qatar, and Turkey have declared their readiness to set up a joint company for the construction of a major highway running from Romania to Turkey and Greece via Bulgaria (aka the Ruse-Svilengrad Road).

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov welcomed Friday in the Black Sea residence of the Bulgarian government, Euxinograd, Qatari PM Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani and Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Borisov himself announced the news about the trilateral initiative to fund and construct the road from the Bulgarian Danube city of Ruse to the southeastern town of Svilengrad on Bulgaria's border with Turkey and Greece, as cited by BNR.

The Bulgarian PM also said the infrastructure ministers of the three states will get together next Thursday in order to discuss the details for the construction of the project, including the land expropriation procedures, the traffic, and profitability forecasts.

In early May 2012, Bulgaria's Regional Development Minister Lilyana Pavlova declared that Bulgaria will seek public-private partnership for the construction of the Ruse-Veliko Tarnovo-Svilengrad-Istanbul toll road.

In her words, the Ruse-Svilengrad road will allow a faster connection of the Bosphorus Strait with the Danube Bridge through Pan-European Transport Corridor No. 9.

The Regional Development Minister specified that the project for the construction of the 300 km section was expected to attract investors from China, Qatar and Oman.

She said that the investor would build the road and then collect tolls, which, according to preliminary estimations, would amount to BGN 10-15.

Pavlova noted that there is a highway connecting Istanbul and the southern Bulgarian village of Kapitan Andreevo.

She drew attention to the fact that the alternative north-south route along the Black Sea coast is not particularly busy and the interest in the highway connecting the coastal cities of Varna and Burgas was weak.

The Regional Development Minister estimated that the preparation of the paperwork for the construction of the Ruse-Svilengrad road could take as long as a year, plus another six months for the tender process and around 2 years for the construction.

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