On April 13, 2011, the Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds discussed with representatives of the Executive Power the current state and the progress of the projects under the:

• “Transport” Operational Program 2007 – 2013 and the
• ISPA Program/Cohesion Fund (Regulation 1164/94) in the “Transport” sector.

The Committee Meeting has been joined by Mr. Aleksandar Tsvetkov - Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Mr. Ivaylo Moskovski – Deputy Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Mr. Sergey Mihalev – Chairman of the Management Board of the Road Infrastructure Agency, Ms. Nikolina Nikolova – Member of the Management Board of the Road Infrastructure Agency, Mr. Krasimir Kratchunov – Deputy Director General of the National Railway Infrastructure Company and other Executive Power representatives. The Committee Meeting has also been joined by Mr. Ivan Valkov – Chairperson of the Transport, Information Technologies and Communications Committee at the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria.
In the Committee Meeting framework, key issues regarding the European funds management process in the “Transport” sector in the country have been discussed. The following accents can be highlighted:

• A serious progress in the preparation of Application Forms for key projects in the road and railroad sector has been achieved and the contracting rate under the “Transport” Operational Program 2007 – 2013 has been significantly improved. For the past 4,5 months more than 923 mln. leva have been contracted and around 93 mln. leva have been paid. At March 31, 2011, almost 53,5% of the allocated resources under the Program have been contracted and the payments reach at about 7,6% of its budget;

• Four Infrastructure Projects are being implemented at present under the “Transport” Operational Program 2007 – 2013, namely the: Electrification and Reconstruction of Svilengrad – Turkish Border Railway Line, Trakya Motorway Project, Extension of the Metropolitan Sofia – Phase I and Extension of the Metropolitan Sofia – Phase II;

• The state of play under the different Priority Axes of the “Transport” Operational Program 2007 – 2013 has been discussed and the main risks for the Program implementation have also been outlined;

• The current state of key big projects under the ISPA Program/Cohesion Fund (Regulation 1164/94) in the “Transport” sector has also been reviewed.

The topic related to the opportunities for using external Technical assistance in the sector provided by the International Financial Institutions has also been touched during the Meeting.

The Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds congratulated the Executive Power representatives for the serious progress in the management of the European funds in the “Transport” sector for the last few months and for the highly objective information, presented during the hearing.

The presentation and discussion of the information on the progress under the Programs and projects above is a part of the series of hearings before the Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds aimed at exerting political control over the activity of the state administration structures engaged in the management of the European funds in the country. The materials and the debates of the meetings will be used in the elaboration of the Interim and Annual Reports of the Committee on the absorption of the EU funds in the Republic of Bulgaria.

The Report from the hearing can be found at (available only in Bulgarian):

http://www.parliament.bg/bg/parliamentarycommittees/members/240/reports/ID/2674