A consortium including a company controlled by Vasil Bozhkov, one of Bulgaria's richest and most high-profile businessmen, won the bid for the construction of a section of the Maritsa Highway.

The "Maritsa Highway" consortium between Bozhkov's Patnostroitelna Tehnika and Austrian Porr Technobau got the lowest bid for the 34-km section between Dimitrovgrad and Harmanli.

The offer was for BGN 122.137 VAT excluded, given a forecast price of BGN 200.

A record number of companies participated in the bid, totalling 14 offers, 10 of which were accepted for the competition.

This is but the newest among a string of road projects that Vasil Bozhkov's construction companies have been winning, all part of the Bulgarian center-right GERB cabinet of PM Boyko Borisov's bid to enhance the country's infrastructure.

Maritsa Highway is set to connect the Trakiya Highway, also currently under construction, to the Turkish border at Kapitan Andreevo.