Construction Delayed for Lot 4 of Bulgaria's Struma Highway

Bulgarian Regional Development Minister Desislava Terzieva. Photo by BGNES

A section of Lot 4 of the Struma highway connecting the Bulgarian cities of Sandanski and Kulata will be inaugurated no earlier than July 2014, according to Bulgarian minister of Regional Development, Desislava Terzieva.

During a visit to the section, Terzieva emphasized that Lot 4 will be launched later than scheduled due to a network of cables that has to be relocated.

“By December we intend to have signed the contract with the company that will move the cable network away to let us speed the road construction.” Terzieva vowed.

The first sod was made on April 5, 2012 by the former PM Boyko Borisov.

“By July only 12 % of the 17km Lot 4 were constructed”, the minister said.

“So far, 25% of the Lot has been completed” said Terzieva on Moday, pointing that during the current cabinet’s rule the construction is going much faster.

The construction of Lot 4 triggers serious traffic difficulties to the Bulgarian southern town of Petrich and the nearby villages on the route of the highway’s junction which have small roads and weak infrastructure to sustain the increased traffic, local mayors complain.

The traffic has been diverted from the constructing area and trucks and heavy vehicles are passing through the small villages.

The total length of the Struma highway from the village of Daskalovo to the Greek border is 150 km.

It is part of the Pan-European Transport Corridor IV and the Trans-European North-South Highway.

The construction of a total of 68.5km of the Struma highway, including Lot 1 (Dolna Dikanya – Dupnitsa, 16.78km), Lot 2 (Dupnitsa – Blagoevgrad, around 37 km) and Lot 4 (Sandanski – Kulata, 14.7km) is funded under Operational Program "Transport" for the period 2007-2013.

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