A toll system is to be introduced on key Bulgarian roads and the money raised will be invested in improving the national road infrastructure.
The announcement was made by the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, Lilyana Pavlova (pictured above), at the ‘Safer Road Infrastructure’ conference which took place in Hissar, Bulgaria between 21–22 April. The conference was organised by the Bulgarian Branch Association Road Safety and attended by more than 200 delegates.
EuroRAP was represented by partnerships and research director, Dr Steve Lawson, who opened the conference with an introduction to EuroRAP’s survey in Bulgaria.
The minister said that the proposed tolling system would be GPS-based (the cheapest option) and would utilise the existing 250 cameras and frames on national roads in the country which have been financed with European funds. A further 100 cameras will be erected and the monitoring will be jointly supervised by the Bulgarian Traffic Police and the Roads Infrastructure Agency (RIA).
‘We expect a doubling or even tripling of revenues after the introduction of the new system and this will be invested in road maintenance and ensuring road safety,’ the minister said. She added that the revenues would be retained by the RIA.
The new system could be operating by early 2018.