Today the European Commission has adopted the first major infrastructure programme for Bulgaria for the period 2021-2027 – the Transport Connectivity Programme. The EU has allocated €1.61 billion, one of the largest amount for Bulgarian cohesion programmes in the programming period 2021 - 2027.
- 03 October 2022
The envisaged investments will promote the use of environmentally friendly modes of transport and alternative fuels, improve the quality of road, rail and maritime infrastructure and contribute to reducing the harmful impact of transport on the environment.
One of the main tasks defined in the programme is the timely completion of the TEN-T network and the digital transformation. Other priorities include:
- attracting passenger and freight traffic to the rail transport by improving the quality of the railway infrastructure;
- eliminating bottlenecks on road infrastructure;
- development of intelligent transport systems and the implementation of innovative solutions for stable, intelligent, secure and intermodal TEN-T in correspondence to the goals of national transport policy and the European Semester recommendations.
The most important investments planned are:
- the construction and modernization of railway sections along the Orient/Eastern-Mediterranean corridor, including a railway connection between Bulgaria and North Macedonia, and the modernization of the Sofia-Pernik-Radomir railway line;
- the construction of a road section along the Orient/Eastern-Mediterranean corridor and improving connectivity between the Rhine - Danube corridor and the Orient/Eastern-Mediterranean corridor in the North-South direction, including the construction of Ruse-Veliko Tarnovo Highway;
- the construction of infrastructure for alternative fuels along the main directions of the national road network;
- the development and expansion of inland waterways and seaports for public transport for multimodal operations, the modernization and development of terminals and port facilities for combined transport.
The projects co-financed by the EU under the Transport Connectivity Programme will contribute also to the achievement of the objectives of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region.
Please see below a map of the road and railway projects financed under OP Transport and Transport Infrastructure 2014 – 2020 and planned to be implemented in 2021 – 2027.