Major roadways will be included in the scope of the toll

A conversation with the industry is to be initiated

The revenues we have from the toll system since March 1 are in an order of magnitude that does not give us confidence that we can rehabilitate enough roads in Bulgaria and build new ones with them.

This is what Regional Development and Public Works Minister Petya Avramova said in an interview for Nova TV.  She joined the conversation from the base from which the actual construction works on the route of the road Mezdra - Botevgrad will start.  Avramova reminded that the budget for this year includes 450 million levs of toll revenues from heavy traffic.  There was an agreement with the industry to analyse the revenues in the period from 1 March, when the system was launched, to 1 June. The problem of the coronavirus outbreak prevented us from having adequate data to analyse as there were restrictions on movement on the thoroughfares from March 13, she added.  Avramova commented that the extent of the toll has been identified as a problem and a discussion with the industry is to be initiated.  Currently, heavy traffic pays a toll for crossing motorways and first-class roads. There are areas where there is not a single road that is included in the scope of the system, and this means that all roads are free of charge for them, which has a very significant impact on toll revenues.

There are roads, such as the Passage of the Republic, which is a second-class road and is free of charge, and there is also transit traffic.  It turns out that you pay less than the vignette fee if you go vertically through the territory of Bulgaria.  Minister Avramova pointed out that many of the second-class roads are major thoroughfares for traffic, and they have been removed from the scope of the toll system at the insistence of the transport industry.  Therefore, it will be proposed to include main arteries in the scope of the toll system and to pay for passing on them as well.  The Regional Minister noted that everybody wants to travel on good roads, and for that resources are needed.

Responding to a question about the road repairs during the tourist season, Petya Avramova said that in the section from the 13th to the 20th km of the Trakia highway, work is being done hard so that by June 30 the work on the upper construction of the facilities can be completed and the traffic there can be freed.

The construction works on the section from the 19th to the 37th km of the Hemus motorway will not be interrupted and there will be some difficulties in travel. Petya Avramova appealed for understanding because the repairs of the major facilities are done for safety reasons.

The renovation of the Vitynia tunnel continues, during the survey of which serious structural problems were found that need to be corrected.  Reinforcement is currently being carried out.  The contractors are committed to completing the overall repair by the end of the year.

We have a programme and a plan that we are funding.  We continue the repair works of all the tunnels that were built years ago, Avramova added.

The Minister noted that if other sectors of the economy were interrupted or had difficulties, the construction was in full mobilization and work was going on hard on the construction of the new sections of Hemus Motorway, Zheleznitsa Tunnel of Struma Motorway and Europe Motorway.  The MoRD and the RIA, which administer these works, are also mobilised.