Bulgarian PM Formally Cuts Ribbon of Crucial Highway Junction

Bulgarian PM Borisov (right), Interior Minister Tsvetanov (middle) and Regional Devt Minister Plevneliev (left) try traditional treats prepared by the locals at the opening of the Daskalovo road junction. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov officially inaugurated on Saturday the Daskalovo road junction, which is expected to unclog the road traffic in all of Western Bulgaria, including the roads to Macedonia and Greece.

The junction was first opened a day earlier by the Road Infrastructure Agency but Borisov was unable to attend as he was at the EU Council summit in Brussels.

The Daskalovo junction connects two major highways in Southwestern Bulgaria, which are still under construction – the 19-km Lyulin Highway, and the 156-km Struma Highway.

The head of the Road Infrastructure Agency, Bozhidar Yotov, opened on Friday only the lower level of the Daskalovo road junction near the village of Dragichevo, while the upper level, which is the Lyulin Highway, has not been completed yet.

The junction near the village of Dragichevo includes two lanes in the direction of Sofia, two lanes of the road to the Gyueshevo crossing on the Bulgarian-Macedonian border, and two lanes from the road to the city of Pernik leading also to Greece.

The 19-km Lyulin Highway from Sofia to the Daskalovo road junction should be formally completed by May 15, 2011, after some three years of delay caused by what has been seen as inadequate state regulation and questionable construction practices by the Turkish company Mapa Ghengiz.

The Struma Highway will start at the Daskalovo road junction to the west of Sofia, where it will be connected with the short Lyulin Highway, and will run to the Kulata border crossing on the Bulgarian border with Greece. Some of the sections of the 156-km road are promised to be completed by the end of the Borisov Cabinet's term in 2013. A total of 19 km have been completed so far.

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