In the next three years 170 km of the Hemus Motorway will be built

The construction of a new section of the motorway between Yablanitsa and road connection Boaza started

In the next three years, 170 km of the Hemus Motorway will be built. This was announced by Nikolay Nankov, Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, at the start of the construction of new 9.3 km of the motorway in the section from Yablanitsa to road connection Boaza.

The Minister reminded that in the previous two mandates of Borisov Government 22 km of 170 km of Hemus Motorway were built. He announced that the construction of another 16.5 km of the motorway route from Shumen to Targovishte will start within two and months and a half. This year, another 52 km will be marketed, the design of which is currently being finalized and the implementation will start by the end of this year. Another 85 km of the motorway to Veliko Tarnovo will be commissioned in 2019 and so actual construction will start.

Nikolay Nankov stressed that Hemus Motorway is of utmost importance for the road safety and economic development of Northern Bulgaria. “I’m convinced that if all the cabinets except for Borisov Government had done half of what has been done so far and what we’re doing now, we wouldn’t turn the first sod today, but would have the entire motorway done,” he said.

The Minister thanked the Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev and the Minister of Finance Vladislav Goranov for their cooperation, for the motorway is being built with budget funds only. Nikolay Nankov said that optimistically, Hemus Motorway could be completed by 2024, while realistically by 2025 according to the commitment, and confirmed that the main efforts in this mandate will be directed to the northern part of the country.

The Regional Minister turned to the builders urging them to work fast and of the proper quality and to the supervisor to monitor the quality of work. “The deadline for completion is 2 years, but we are committed to save a few months and after a year and a half we will be able to congratulate ourselves on the completed section,” he said.

According to Minister Vladislav Goranov, the investment in the extension of Hemus Motorway is among the most reasonable of the government, because it allows for “undoing the knot of Northern Bulgaria”. He expressed his conviction that the moment this project ends, the northern part of the country will begin catching up with Southern Bulgaria. A country with gross domestic product of BGN 100 billion must have priorities and develop the regions harmoniously, said the Minister of Finance and wished Minister Nankov to complete this extremely important infrastructure project in his mandate, because of its significance for the economic development of the country.

“As Ernest Hemingway once said, “Everything, far from the sea, is a province!” and that is why we have the task of making a large part of the country’s territory - the north – less provincial and more urban. We don’t invest in asphalt or in concrete, but in people and their ability to travel, work, become wealthier and develop, which is the ultimate goal,” said Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev. In his words, if there are almost three motorways in the south, then this should also be the case for the northern part of the country, so the capital could be connected to the sea and no part of the north is separated. Deputy Prime Minister was resolute that the expedient completion of the facility was in everyone’s interest and urged all Bulgarian citizens to supervise it and not only the selected company.

The motorway section will have two 4 m lanes for each direction, two 3 m lanes for stopping, one middle 2 m dividing lane, guiders and waysides. Five agricultural underpasses and 2 agricultural overpasses will be built, as well as an underpass at the Brestnitsa municipal road - Saeva dupka cave. Stage connection near the village of Brestnitsa will provide connection to the road I-4 Koritna - Belokopitovo.

The contractor of the site is Consortium HVP Yablanitsa DZZD (partnership under the Obligations and Contracts Act). The contract for design and construction is worth BGN 54,990 million excluding VAT. Construction supervision will be carried out by the Consultants Hemus 1 - 2016 DZZD with a contract amounting to BGN 595,899.10 excluding VAT.

“In order to boost the improvement of the road infrastructure and increase the safety in Northern Bulgaria, the rehabilitation of the ring road of Lovech and its tunnel has begun today. In less than 15 months, the road with seven heavy-load road facilities - underpasses, overpasses and the tunnel with the worst exploitation characteristics in Bulgaria will be completely upgraded,” Minister Nikolay Nankov said at the beginning of the activities. The project for the overhaul of 8.7 km of the second-class road II-35 Pleven-Lovech, connecting the two district towns, will invest about BGN 15 million from Operational Program “Regions in Growth” 2014-2020. through the European Regional Development Fund. The contractor for construction is Consortium REGIONAL ROADS 2017 DZZD, the contractor for supervision is Rutex OOD, and the designer supervision will be implemented by VIA PLAN EOOD.