Brussels Gives Bulgaria EUR 42.5 Million for Sofia Tech Park
(Sofia, Jan 11) - The European Commission has allocated a grant of EUR 42.5 million (BGN 83.1 million) for the construction of the Sofia Tech Park. The contract was signed at the Council of Ministers by Sofia Tech Park CEO Elitsa Panayotova and Chief Director of the European Funds for Competitiveness Kiril Geratliev. The event was also attended by Minister of Economy Delian Dobrev.
The total cost of the project is EUR 50...
Shukri Hussein was only 23 when he first bought some land, with a friend, to start a farm at Praventsi, a village close to Novi Pazar, in north-east Bulgaria. Ten years later the biology graduate heads a 110-hectare organic farm with a workforce of 35.
He was pleased with what he had achieved and had no intention of letting anyone spoil his dream. At the beginning of January he joined thousands of others to protest against plans to explore the huge shale-gas reserves in his region. Their...
“The opportunities OP Environment provides in the previous and the new programme periods establish prerequisites for a huge volume of work on designing and construction of ecological infrastructure as well as possibilities for the state to tackle challenges,“ said Ivelina Vasileva, Bulgarian Minister of Environment and Water, speaking at an annual conference themed “Strategic infrastructure and investments – Bulgaria and the Western Balkans“, FOCUS News Agency reported.
“In the...
Bulgaria's Agency for Privatization and Post-Privatization Control has formally declared the cargo department of the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) for sale.
The privatization of BDZ Freight Services, the only even remotely profitable section of the vastly indebted BDZ, has been a highly controversial matter for the past few years.
The aims of the privatization motion as recorded in the official paperwork are to preserve the business activity of BDZ Freight Services, to help modernize the...
The second bridge linking Bulgaria and Romania across the Danube has been completed at 81%, the Spanish construction firm FCC announced Monday.
The adjacent infrastructure of the Vidin-Calafat bridge has been completed more than 90%, with the so called Danube Bridge 2 expected to be fully operational at the end of 2012.
The builders have already launched into operation some of the road junction at the bridge, and have completed the international passenger and freight railway terminals in...
Sofia Airport will launch a new cargo service in May, operating the Sofia-Belgrade-Prague route.
Czech Airlines will run the cargo flights twice weekly, on Wednesday and Friday,
The cargo flights- will be executed twice weekly, on Wednesday and Friday, on an АTR72 freighter.
In May, Sofia Airport registered the highest amount of freight and postal shipments processed since the beginning of 2012, at 1441 tons, up by 6.2% from May 2011.
There was a significant 28% increase in...
Bulgaria's capital Sofia will have its first operational overpass road junction in July 2012, Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova promised.
The Sofia Municipality has launched the construction of a third overpass that is supposed to help relieve the tough street traffic situation in the city.
Fandakova referred to the overpass located on the crossing of the Andrey Sakharov Blvd and the Alexander Malinov Blvd in the Mladost quarter, which was in fact supposed to be completed by May 2012.
It...
Bulgaria has completed the rehabilitation of its key southern railway linking the cities of Plovdiv and Burgas at about 35%, the Transport Ministry announced Friday night.
In May 2011, the Bulgarian government formally started the project for the rehabilitation of the southern rail highway between Plovdiv and Burgas, a major and long-anticipated infrastructure project, whose total length is 292 km.
Thus, trains will be able to reach a speed of 160 km/h in the rehabilitated railway...
The construction of the South Stream gas pipeline will begin by the end of 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Monday.
Putin has reminded that the project has received additional support, as it has been backed by Turkey.
"Turkey approved the passing through of the pipeline through its exclusive economic zone," he said, as cited by ITAR-TASS.
The project is expected to become operational by the end of 2015.
The South Stream pipeline is intended to transport up to 63...
The northeastern Bulgarian city of Dobrich has become the second location in Bulgaria to open an electric vehicle charging station outside of the capital Sofia.
Dobrich has thus become the first provincial city in Bulgaria to have a charger for electric vehicles.
The electric vehicle charging station in Dobrich has been built as a private investment of FullCharger Bulgaria in cooperation with Atanasov Group EOOD, a chain of gas stations.
The two companies have decided to put up a total...
Sofia Municipality is going to open at least five more Tourist Information Centers, in addition to the only existing one, according to Deputy Sofia Mayor Irina Savina.
The Tourist Information Center in Sofia was opened in January 2010; it is located at the Sofia University metro station.
Savina announced Saturday, however, as cited by BTA, that similar tourist and cultural information offices will be opened at Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of Sofia International Airport, the Central Railway...
The repaired Bulgarian section of Danube Bridge 1 between the city Ruse and Romania's Giurgiu was opened Saturday by Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov.
The bridge is the only one existing on the Danube to connect Bulgaria and Romania, for which the Bulgarian government has allocated BGN 1.7 M.
Borisov was accompanied at the ceremony by Regional Minister, Rosen Plevneliev, Transport Minister, Ivaylo Moskovski, and Culture Minister, Vezhdi Rashidov.
"Our Danube capital Ruse needed these...
Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft will freeze the construction of the troubled Burgas-Alexandroupolis project, which has been largely obstructed by Bulgaria's government in the past 2 years.
Transneft will not abandon the Burgas–Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project - despite its partner Bulgaria's failure to provide financing - but will freeze the construction this fall, Transneft Vice President Mikhail Barkov said on Friday night, as quoted by RIA Novosti.
"We are not giving up...
The subway line from the Mladost 3 district to the main thoroughfare of the Bulgarian capital Sofia – Tsarigradsko Shosse Boulevard will be open for use by May 2012.
The news was announced Thursday by Mayor, Yordanka Fandakova, who said that simultaneously with the launch of the line, the buffer parking with 1 300 spots will also open.
The line from Mladost 1 district through Mladost 3 district to Tsarigradsko Shose is going to be 2.6-km long and it is expected that it would greatly...
Bulgaria's Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, in the company of three members of his cabinet, broke ground Thursday of the second stage of the road to Greece through the Makaza mountain pass.
The road segment is between Kardzhali and Podkova. It is 34-km-long of which 27 km are new construction and the rest are being rehabilitated. The road construction includes the building of 8 new bridges, one overpass, two underpasses, and 7 junctions.
The investment amount is estimated at BGN 32 M...
Bulgaria's government will launch September 1, 2011, the long-anticipated construction of a key section of the road from the Danube city of Ruse on the Romanian border to the Makaza Pass on the Greece border.
The section in question is the road between the southern Bulgarian city of Kardzhali in the Eastern Rhodope Mountain, and the village of Podkova, which is located just 15 km north of the Makaza Pass on the Bulgarian-Greek border, at an altitude of 331 m, in the Kirkovo...
Bulgaria's Cabinet has declared the road from the Danube city of Ruse on the Romanian border to the Makaza Pass on the Greece border to be a project "of national importance" in a long-awaited move.
The Ruse-Makaza road linking Romania and Greece through Central Bulgaria is supposed to be part of the Pan-European Transport Corridor No. 9 leading from Helsinki, the Baltic states, Moscow, Kiev, and Bucharest to the Greek port of Alexandroupolis on the Aegean.
The international transport...
Sofia Municipality is taking a number of measures to revamp the public city transport in order to make a better use of the second line of the Sofia Metro that is to be launched in 2012, officials have announced.
In early 2012, the municipality will start the reconstruction of the underpass of the Sofia Central Railway Station, which will feature a metro station and an underground connection to the Sofia Central Bus Station located nearby, announced Sofia Chief Architect Petar Dikov, as cited...
The lively Sofia Central Park, known as Borisova Gradina, named after Bulgaria's last king, Boris III, became Wednesday property of Sofia City Hall.
The decision was made by the Council of Ministers during their regularly scheduled meeting. With the decision, the Sofia City Hall is to manage and maintain the entire territory of the park – 33 hectares, part of which until now was owned by the State.
Last week the Sofia municipal council voted a proposal to begin managing 32.9 hectares of...
Bulgaria's Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, and the Minister of Regional Policy and Public Works, Rosen Plevneliev, broke the ground of Lot 1 of Maritsa highway.
The ceremony took place Tuesday near the southern town of Chirpan.
The segment Orizovo-Dimitrovgrad is 31.4-km long and is part of the trans-European highway, connecting Central and Eastern Europe with the Middle East and Asia. It is scheduled to be completed in 25 months by the Italian contractor Cooperativa Muratori & Cementisti,...
Bulgaria's government has voted to allocate state budget funds for the construction of Lot 1 and Lot 2 of the southeastern Maritsa Highway before the European Commission has formally approved their EU funding.
The press statement of the Council of Minister does not specify the precise sum that the state budget will pour into the highway.
The EC is expected to give its final approval to the project for the completion of the Maritsa Highway linking Bulgaria's Trakiya Highway and Sofia to...
The Sofia City Hall is going to request to become the manager of the Sofia Central Park known as Borisova Gradina.
The news was reported by the Mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, who visited Monday another one of the capital's parks – Geo Milev, to check on renovations there.
According to Fandakova, the transfer of the management will allow the City Hall to make more investments in the maintenance of the park, which is currently State property, and additional expenses will be paid for...
The Bulgarian government has launched the construction of an 8-km section of the Hemus Highway, which is supposed to connect Sofia and Varna through Northern Bulgaria.
The start of the construction was given by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov, Regional Development Minister Rosen Plevneliev, and Varna Mayor Kiril Yordanov.
The 8 km section will be an extension in the western direction of the existing eastern section of the Hemus Highway running from Varna to...
Bulgaria Translation