Sofia signs 282M euro contract on EU grant funding to modernise urban transport, infrastructure
Sofia mayor Vasil Terziev signed a contract for 282 million euro in European grant funding for the modernisation of public transport and the construction and renovation of streets and boulevards in Bulgaria’s capital city, the municipality said on November 12.
The contract was signed with Regional Development and Public Works Minister Ivan Shishkov.
The funds are provided under the procedure Support for Integrated Urban Transport and Sustainable Urban Mobility of Sofia Municipality, Priority 1 Integrated Urban Development of the Regional Development programme 2021 – 2027.
“We expect the metro line from the centre to Tsarigradsko Shose, the connection with Obelya and the connection that will provide contact with the railway station, as well as the extension of the Ring Road from the Lyulin metro stations to the Sofia Ring Road, to be built and put into operation soon,” Shishkov said.
The programme envisages large-scale investments in the development of transport.
Among these are the extension of the Third Metro Line through the Slatina district, the construction of a metro station next to the Obelya railway station on the Sofia – Kyustendil railway line, with a tunnel connection to the Obelya metro depot, as well as the acquisition of new metro trains for lines No. 1, 2 and 4.
With the signing of an additional agreement on October 27 for the delivery of eight more metro trains, the total number of new trains planned under the programme for lines No. 1, 2 and 4 will reach 16.
All of them should be delivered by autumn 2028. The new metro trains will provide greater comfort with quieter movement and air-conditioned cabins, as well as higher energy efficiency through an energy recovery system during braking, the municipality said.
The secured financing will contribute to covering part of the investments already made and will support the further development of the metro as the main backbone of public transport in Sofia.
In land transport, the funds will ensure the delivery of 75 low-floor trolleybuses with batteries for autonomous movement – 40 articulated with a length of 18 metres and 35 single ones with a length of 12 metres. 50 low-floor fast-charging electric buses and the necessary charging stations will also be delivered. Of these, 35 will be 12 metres long and 15 will be 18 metres long.
The new trolleybuses will allow for the expansion of the route network. It is planned to extend line No. 3 to Mladost-4 and provide a connection with Vrazhdebna, as well as line No. 8 to Orlandovtsi. New trolleybus connections are also planned between Lyulin and Gotse Delchev and between Nadezhda and Mladost-1.
The electric buses will serve two new ring lines – No. 71 between Levski G and Gotse Delchev and No. 75 between Geo Milev and Pavlovo. The routes will pass through key directions, including G. M. Dimitrov Blvd. and Todor Kableshkov Blvd.
With this European funding, combined with the long-term loan that the Sofia municipality will procure, the aim is for all ground public transport vehicles to be low-floor and air-conditioned by 2030, the municpality said.
This will improve accessibility and travel comfort, as well as connections between neighbourhoods, it said.
Investments for which construction activities have already been completed are also included. They are for the construction of Todor Kableshkov Blvd. between Louis Ayer St. and Cherni Vrah Blvd., which was completed this year, as well as Rozhen Blvd. from the overpass over the railway line to the Northern Expressway. Rozhen Blvd. was completed at the end of last year, and now the municipality is preparing the repair of the section from the railway overpass to the Nadezhda overpass, which will be financed through a long-term loan.
According to data from the Management and Monitoring Information System (MIS), the contract is the largest in terms of value for a project under this programmeme, under which Sofia municipality is a beneficiary, since the first programmeming period 2007-2013.
(Photo: Sofia municipality)
