The Council of Ministers adopted a Roadmap for the completion of the Struma Motorway. It assigns specific actions for the implementation of the project, responsible institutions, as well as deadlines. This ensures that the legal and technical aspects and those related to environmental protection are duly taken into account in the preparation and implementation of the project. The implementation of the Roadmap will be monitored by a permanent expert group, which will include the competent institutions in the person of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, the Road Infrastructure Agency, the Ministry of Environment and Water, the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the State Agency for Road Safety, as well as representatives of the Coalition Let's Save the Kresna Gorge. (the Coalition) as stakeholders. The group will be formed by the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Transport.
On the recommendation of the Bern Convention, the map was developed jointly between the Bulgarian authorities and the Coalition, and with the cooperation of the Convention Secretariat, an agreement was reached between the two parties on the need for progress in the completion of the motorway.
According to the timetables set out in the roadmap, a public procurement procedure is planned to be held in February 2025 for the development of a conceptual design for securing the Sofia - Kulata direction in the Simitli - Kresna section outside the Kresna Gorge. June is the indicative deadline for concluding a contract with a contractor, and at least half a year will be required for implementation.
After a procedure under environmental legislation, it is planned to be completed by December 2027. to prepare an investment project in the following phases: Technical design and PUP-PP, and the indicative deadline for completion of the construction is June 2031. These are only some of the scheduled steps for the completion of the Struma Motorway between Simitli and Kresna from Sofia to Kulata. In addition, the map includes temporary mitigation and safety measures, as well as actions after the implementation of the project. Among the latter are the rehabilitation of the existing road (E79) with the implementation of mitigation measures, which should occur after the implementation of the lane from Kulata to Sofia and the transfer of two-way traffic along it. It is also noted in the terms of reference, the report and the decision for the EIA/ES that it should be taken into account and motivated that the road through the Kresna Gorge (E79) will be considered only as a supplementary/local road and will not perform the functions of the western lane of the highway, as was envisaged in the Eastern variant G10.50.
The completion of the Struma Motorway will help achieve the goals of the effective and sustainable integration of the national road infrastructure into the European one, increasing cohesion and improving connections between Bulgaria and the other EU member states. Its completion is directly related to our national security, as it ensures transport connectivity with our neighboring countries Romania and Greece, which are members of the European Union and NATO.
We recall that the route of the Struma Motorway was supposed to be ready in the distant 2004.