Nearly 890 million lev are paid for the implementation of road projects under Operational Programme "Transport", said Deputy Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Petar Kirov today during the opening of the new 24-kilometer stretch of the I- 5 road Kardzhali - Podkova. In his words 96% of the funds for road infrastructure under OPT have already been agreed.

"The overall financial results of Operational Programme "Transport" show that we have agreed almost 100 % of its budget and more than 2,214 billion lev are paid to the beneficiary”, said Petar Kirov. He added that under the programme more than 140 km of highways have been constructed and put into operation and about 16 kilometers of roads have been rehabilitated.

The "Kardzhali - Podkova" project is divided into two sections. The first one covers the route Kardzhali – the Jebel junction and includes the rehabilitation and reconstruction of 8.2189 km (from the junction with Bulgaria Blvd. in Kardzhali to the junction of the town of Jebel). Section 2 is a new development from the junction of Jebel to Podkova (a total of 24.227 km) and the road connection to the village of Fotinovo (2.368 km). The project is funded under the Operational Programme "Transport". The total value of the contract grant is about 54 million lev VAT included .

The official ceremony was attended by Minister of Regional Development, Desislava Terzieva, the Chairman of the Managing Board of the Road Infrastructure Agency, Stefan Chaikov, MPs, the mayors of Kardzhali, Jebel, Momchilgrad, Kirkovo and others