Representatives of DG Regional Policy of the European Commission visited today the construction sites of the Sofia underground extension project, financed under OP Transport.

Zsolt Tosegi and Jeroen Van Oel inspected metro station 10-II (St. Naum), the tunnel under Cherni Vruh Blvd., as well as the starting shaft for the tunnel boring machine, near the Nadezhda road junction.

Metropoliten EAD CEO, eng. Ivan Bratoev familiarized the European Commission representatives with the methods of works and the project activities carried out so far. As at early June 2010 the project is carried out according to schedule as the physical implementation has reached 35% and the financial - 30%.

The European Commission representatives commented that the Sofia underground extension project has set a good example of implementation of European infrastructure projects. During the inspection they got assured that all construction requirements are being met, works are carried out according to schedule and considerable progress has been made without compromising on quality. They voiced satisfaction with the fact that they could see on spot the progress achieved and see the project activities actually carried out.

The Commission representatives were accompanied by the Project Manager, eng. Kiril Zaikov, and representatives of the contractors, the Chief of Metro Thrace Partnership, Tsvetan Tsonev, and the Dogus Insaat ve Ticaret A.S. Project Manager Ertan Yapici.

The second line is divided into two sections - from Nadezhda to Patriarch Evtimii Blvd. and from Patriarch Evtimii to Cherni Vruh. The first has a length of 3.8 km and the second - 2.6 km. The completion of these highly important sections would ensure powerful, speedy, underground public transport along one of the capital's busiest routes and efficient intermodal connections with the main transport junctions of the city, eng. Bratoev explained.

After the completion of the second line and the parallel construction by the Sofia Municipality, in 2012 the Sofia underground is expected to have two lines of a total length of about 31 km. It will transport over 420,000 passengers on a daily basis.

The Sofia underground extension project is of a total value of 247 million EUR, of which 185 million are ensured under the European Regional Development Fund through OP Transport, 28 million EUR - under the National Fund, 62 million EUR - by the Sofia Municipality and 49 million EUR by the beneficiary, Metropoliten EAD.