Bulgaria and Romania invest 230 million euros to deepen the Danube

Bulgaria and Romania are taking an important step towards improving navigation on the Danube River. To this end, an agreement has been signed for the joint award of public procurement contracts for the Fast Danube 2 project, the total value of which amounts to nearly 230 million euros, the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport announced.

The agreement is between the Bulgarian Executive Agency "Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube River" and the River Administration for the Lower Danube - Galati (Romania) and was signed within the framework of a meeting dedicated to the progress of the project.

The Fast Danube 2 project will contribute to better connectivity of the Danube region with the rest of the European Union, as well as to facilitating the free movement of people and goods," said Angel Zaburtov, Bulgaria’s Deputy Minister of Transport, at the signing event.

The draft agreement was approved by the Council of Ministers on April 23. It gives the green light to launch joint public procurement covering environmental monitoring, design, construction and construction supervision on the shared Bulgarian-Romanian section of the river.

The financial commitment of the Bulgarian side amounts to 111.8 million euros, of which up to 85% is expected to be funded by the European Commission through the Connecting Europe Facility.

Romania has consistently emphasized the importance of free navigation on the river, including in the ongoing negotiations to build a third bridge between the two countries. For Romania, improving transport connectivity on the Danube is a priority.

Fast Danube 2 is part of the Trans-European Transport Network and a key element in the optimization of the Rhine-Danube Corridor. It is emerging as a long-term and sustainable example of effective cross-border cooperation in the field of transport infrastructure and regional mobility.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov