Bulgaria's road infrastructure agency said it has opened a tender procedure for the drafting of a feasibility study on the construction of a key road stretch with approximate length of 300 kilometres, linking the northern town of Ruse with Svilengrad, in the country's south.
The purpose of the contract is to clarify the investment plan and to determine a suitable option for the implementation of the project, a public procurement notice issued by the agency indicated.
The estimated value of the 120-day advisory contract is 66,000 levs ($44,000/33,700 euro). Bids should be filed by October 23.
The feasibility study should envisage the construction of an entirely new route with two traffic lanes in each direction and elevated sections for the locations where it intersects with the national road network.
Bulgaria and Qatar are backing the initiative for the construction of the road linking Svilengrad, on the Turkish border, with Ruse, on the Danube river, after Turkey decided to withdraw from the project last month. The indicative construction costs for the road project are estimated at 1.5 billion levs.
The Ruse-Svilengrad road will lie on the route of a pan-European highway connecting Europe with Istanbul and the Middle East.