Bulgaria's Transport Ministry signed on Wednesday two deals with Italy's Astaldi and France's Thales and Alcatel Lucent to upgrade a key stretch of Bulgaria's railroad infrastructure. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)
Bulgaria's Transport Ministry signed on Wednesday two deals with Italy's Astaldi and France's Thales and Alcatel Lucent, worth a combined EUR 198,1 M, to upgrade a key stretch of Bulgaria's railroad infrastructure.
Astaldi was picked to build the railway and the electricity infrastructure for the 114 kilometres stretch linking the town of Parvomay in central Bulgaria to the border with Greece and Turkey near Svilengrad in southeastern Bulgaria.
The ministry will pay Astaldi EUR 162,5 M to complete the works within 39 months.
Thales and Alcatel Lucent will provide the signalling and telecommunications infrastructure for the same stretch in a contract worth EUR 35,6 M, which has to be completed within 37 months.
The two contracts are part of a bigger project, which aims to upgrade the railway infrastructure between Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city, and the border with Greece and Turkey.
The total cost of the project is EUR 340 M, with EUR 153 M in funding coming under EU's pre-accession aid fund ISPA and EUR 150 M from a loan contracted from the European Investment Bank.
The rest of the money, EUR 37 M, will be allocated from Bulgaria's budget.