European Commission keen to see Danube Bridge II go up within 2 yrs

dnevnik.bg

The bridge spanning the Danube river at Vidin-Calafat should be commissioned into operation by the end of 2010, top European Commission officials told the Bulgarian side during a meeting on the project late last week.

The EC officials said the progress evident at the construction site is satisfactory but that the commission expects better results from the implementation of the project.

The bridge will be ready by April 2010, there is a new construction timetable that will make it possible to offset the four-month delay, said deputy transport minister Vesela Gospodinova.

The set-back was caused by the rejection of the technical project of Spain's FCC by the project engineer. Under Romanian legislation, all access to the site is barred unless the project is properly rubber-stamped.

The Bulgarian transport ministry said the Romanian side made an exception due to the significance of the project and had given the go-ahead to the geological study.

EU's ISPA program provides 70 mln euro for the bridge with as much coming from the EIB. Germany's KfW contributes 18 mln euro with local co-financing at 60 mln euro.