Bulgaria Sees Launch of Second Danube Bridge in Early 2013
A second bridge over the Danube linking Bulgaria and Romania is expected to be launched in the beginning of next year if weather conditions are favourable, Bulgaria's transport minister said.
The remaining finishing works will take about a month, Ivailo Moskovski said on Wednesday in an interview for state-run Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).
The final segment of the bridge was mounted last week and it is now fully connected, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
In a separate statement issued on Wednesday the European Commission said that the EU provided about 106 million euro for the construction of the bridge, which is worth some 250 million euro ($324 million) in total.
Return on investment is expected in 12 to 15 years, depending on traffic intensity, Moskovski also told BNR.
The bridge linking the Bulgarian town of Vidin, in northwestern Bulgaria, with Romania's Calafat on the opposite bank of the river, has four road lanes and a railway line.
Bulgaria and Romania are currently linked by a single bridge over the Danube between Ruse in Bulgaria and Giurgiu in Romania.