Interview with
Kamen
Kichev
-
Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications of Bulgaria
-
Bulgaria
-
Newsletter n° 8
-
June 2010
1) The public involvement has been determinant in
recent years for the infrastructure development in Bulgaria. In the
light of present global economic crisis and of the difficulties to
quickly restart secure economic growth, which are the main
priorities the Government intends to focus its attention on in the
mid-term for the further implementation of the objectives foreseen
by the Strategy Development Plan for Transport?
In order to achieve higher efficiency of the transport sector
performance, observing the principles of its sustainable, safe and
secure development and in accordance with the consumers'
requirements, the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and
Communications elaborated a Strategy for the Development of the
Transport System of the Republic of Bulgaria till 2020.
The mission of the Bulgarian transport sector is to achieve a
fully integrated, competitive and sustainable transport system that
meets the economic, social and environmental needs of the society.
In that respect, we have defined our main goals and priorities for
the next 10-year period (till 2020). The national transport policy
priorities are as follows:
- Efficient maintenance, modernisation and development of the
transport infrastructure
- Sufficient financing for transport sector development and
performance. Efficient absorption of the EU funds
- Provision of transparent and harmonised competitive business
environment of the transport market
- Reduction of the transport sector negative impact on the
environment and human health
- Safety and security of the transport system
- Provision of high-quality and accessible transport in all
regions of the country
- Sustainable development of urban passenger transport.
By fulfillment of these priorities, the Ministry of Transport,
Information Technology and Communications intends to achieve in
2020 a modern, safe and secure transport system, providing
high-quality transport infrastructure and services to the
society.
2) After the Bulgaria 2007 integration, the country
has turned to be a crossroads of the TEN-T network in the
South-Eastern part of the Europe; how this would contribute to
better regional cohesion and easier integration into the European
transport system for close non-EU countries?
From a geo-strategic point of view the Republic of Bulgaria has
a favourable geographical location that provides a great
opportunity for its transformation into a transport bridge between
Western and Central European countries, the Middle East, Western
and Central Asia, as well as along the North-South direction. To a
great extent this pre-determines the potential function of Bulgaria
from the transport point of view as a transit country between the
countries rich in natural resources, from the Middle East, Northern
Africa, Western and Middle Asia from one side, and the economically
and industrially strong Western and Central European countries from
another.
The existing transport infrastructure is relatively
well-developed - there are over 19.000 km of roads, 6.000 km of
railways, sea ports, river ports and airports, with links between
the ports and the national road and railway network.
Having in mind all this, we could say that the location of
Bulgaria is a prerequisite for the better regional cohesion and for
the facilitation of the integration o non-EU countries into the
European transport system.
3) Which is for Bulgaria the present demand for a
domestic modern transport river system so to conform to European
inland transport system?
The project related to the elaboration of the river information
system in the Bulgarian part of the Danube River - BULRIS, is part
of the European navigation and information system which aims at
achieving an efficient, safe and secure sailing through the inland
waterways. The first phase of the BULRIS project should be
implemented in the period 2007 - 2011. That phase includes
pre-feasibility studies, system design, elaboration of a tender
dossier and tendering procedures for the construction of the basic
infrastructure of the river information system. The contract for
the implementation of the first phase of the project was signed in
May 2010 and amounts at about 7 €M.