The European Commission has approved Bulgaria’s application for EU funding for the 8.5 kilometre western section of the Sofia ring road, estimated at 22.9 million euro, the transport ministry said on Friday. Some 35.8 million levs for the implementation of the project will be provided under the EU Cohesion Fund through the Transport operational programme 2007-2013, deputy transport minister Petar Kirov was quoted as saying in a press release. The six-lane section has been divided into two lots, the first one of which has been over 40% completed. The project starts from the current intersection of the Sofia ring road with Lyulin motorway and ends with the link between the north tangent and Sofia – Kalotina motorway, the notice read.