The cabinet has allocated BGN 570 million for the Medkovets – Sratsimir railway section

The government surprisingly provided nearly BGN 570 million for the modernisation of the railway section from Medkovets to Sratsimir, even though the funds were not initially included in the 2025 budget. At Wednesday's meeting, the cabinet approved national co-financing for the section, which is part of the route from Vidin to Sofia. The money is being provided using the old non-transparent method – through a decree in the last days of the year – something that is common for the GERB government.

The amount provided is BGN 569,227,578 and will be provided to the National Railway Infrastructure Company within three years. The funds are intended for the two lots of the 45-kilometer route: from Medkovets to Dabova Mahala and from Dabova Mahala to Sratsimir. The project has been approved under the Connecting Europe Facility, but requires the state to cover its share of the investment.

NKZI has already signed a contract with the selected contractor for the Dubova Mahala-Sratsimir section, and a contract for the Medkovets – Dubova Mahala section is pending. The provision of national co-financing will ensure the timely start of construction activities," the cabinet's decision states.

The construction will be carried out by two consortia, which were selected after a long and complex tender procedure by NKZI, in which the estimated value of the contract increased significantly to nearly BGN 1 billion including VAT.

For the shorter section (Medkovets – Dubova Mahala), the contract was signed on October 1 with DZZD "Medkovets VO 2025," which includes Slovenian and Czech partners who offered the lowest price of BGN 173.2 million excluding VAT. The more difficult and expensive section to Sratsimir (31 km) was awarded at the end of August to the consortium "ZhP Medkovets – Sratsimir" consortium, led by "GBS – Infrastructure Construction" and a Turkish partner, whose bid of BGN 597.5 million excluding VAT was the highest in the tender, but won after the competition was eliminated.

Translated with DeepL.