Turkish, Bulgarian firms to build Black Sea motorway

Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloglu told that both Turkish and Bulgarian companies and specialists will actively participate in the upcoming construction of the Black Sea motorway between Varna and Burgas.

Minister Uraloglu said that during his meetings in Sofia with Prime Minister Rumen Radev and Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Peev, among other topics of bilateral interest, they discussed the future construction of the Black Sea motorway, which is expected to be built by Turkish investors, CE Report quotes BTA.

The talks focused on the forms of cooperation and ways in which this corridor can be better developed, the minister noted.

"Especially regarding the motorway, which will continue to the north of Bulgaria – we have considered cooperation with Turkish contractors. We are talking about a motorway of over a hundred kilometers, which will then connect to Romania. On this issue, our technical delegations had already carried out certain studies. We have also reviewed these things and, frankly, we plan to implement them in the upcoming period," the Turkish minister said.

In response to BTA’s questions about the details of the roadmap for the upcoming large-scale construction, Uraloglu said that there is willingness on the part of Turkish companies to implement the project.

"On the one hand, we have such a proposal from the Bulgarian side, and on the other hand, we certainly have the capacity to implement it. It is important that in the implementation of this work here it is valuable to have local partners and that Bulgarian citizens must participate in the project," the Minister told.

Noting that Turkiye attaches great importance to the project, Uraloglu stressed that “for Turkish investors, it is not just a matter of coming, building the road and leaving.” According to the minister, the project is likely to be implemented in the form of a public-private partnership and will last for many years.

"We envisage this to be a project in which both Turkish and Bulgarian companies, workers and engineers will work,” the minister said in his response.

He drew attention to the fact that from Turkiye’s perspective, the border crossings, especially Kapikule–Kapitan Andreevo and Hamzabeyli–Lesovo, are already far too inadequate for the challenges of traffic.

"We are also working on the issue of new border crossings. I hope that we will open new crossings for both rail and road transport," Uraloglu added.

Photo: X/@a_uraloglu