Emil Boc to meet the Bulgarian premier on the Calafat-Vidin bridge on Friday
Date: 08-02-2010
Premier Emil Boc intends to meet his Bulgarian counterpart Boiko Borisov near the bridge over the Danube at Calafat- Vidin to analyse the development of this project, as well as other programmes developed in common, official sources said: “ If there are no unexpected elements, the meeting will take place on 12 February” the sources said.Premier Emil Boc stated that he discussed with his Bulgarian counterpart Boiko Borisov on several issues of interest and agreed that starting February there should be a series of visits at prime-minister level, to analyse the common projects. Boc and Borisov agreed that the visits at prime-minister level be made both in Bucharest and Sofia and Vidin, one of the common projects to be analysed being the bridge at Calafat-Vidin.At the end of last year, the authorities in Sofia required the European Commission to extend by 18 months the financing of 70 million euro through the ISPA programme to build the second Romanian-Bulgarian bridge across the Danube between Calafat and Vidin.
The contracting term ends at the end of 2010. The construction of the bridge is delayed for over one year. The Romanian and Bulgarian authorities signed the agreement for the construction of the bridge in March 2000, but the effective implementation of the project was delayed due to insufficient funds.
At present, the only bridge on the common segment of the Danube between Romania and Bulgaria is the one between Giurgiu and Ruse. The development of the project for the second bridge across the Danube will cost 226 million euro.
