Bulgaria To Borrow 25.6 Mln Euro from EIB for Danube Bridge Construction
Bulgaria will borrow 50 million levs ($33.6 million/25.6 million euro) from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to complete the construction of a second bridge linking Bulgaria and Romania over the Danube.
Bulgaria's Parliament approved the additional spending on the project, state-run Bulgarian National Radio reported.
In October, transport minister Ivailo Moskovski said the construction of the bridge will cost 27 million euro ($35.5 million) more than planned. The project's overall cost turned to be higher than planned due to the use of reinforced concrete pilots in the construction instead of the steel pilots in the original design.
In July the European Commission extended until 2012 the availability of funding for the 225.8 million euro project.
Construction works on the bridge are expected to be completed by the end of November.
The bridge linking the Bulgarian town of Vidin, in northwestern Bulgaria, with Romania's Calafat on the opposite bank of the river, will have four road lanes and a railway line. It is a key infrastructure project that will become part of EU-defined transport Corridor IV running from Germany to Greece and Turkey.