The National Road Infrastructure Agency (NRIA) will soon announce new tenders to choose companies to oversee the construction of the road from Kurdjali to Podkova and the connection of Hemus Highway with Sofia's ring road, the director of projects co-ordination department of the Transport Ministry, Nelli Yordanova, said as quoted by Bulgarian-language daily Dnevnik. Both projects amount to 64 million euro.

The two road projects were financed by Transport operational programme but the ministry froze the money when an inspection revealed that construction procedures had been violated. The Commission for Protection of Competition also concluded that the company, which constructed the section to Kurdjali, was not chosen in line with proper requirements.

By the end of September, Transport Ministry is expected to sign an agreement with NRIA and the European Commission (EC) for conducting tenders for technical support also on the construction of Lyulin Highway near Sofia, which is part of trans European Transport Corridor IV of the trans-European transport network TEN-T.

The EC cancelled the financing of Lyulin Highway's construction and the money for technical support for road projects elaboration financed under the European Union pre-accession programme Ispa because procedures had been violated. The projects were evaluated at about 150 million euro. EC now wants Bulgaria to prove that it has effective supervision over the process and guarantee the absence of conflicts between the relevant parties.

By November 24 the EC has to take a final decision on whether to continue financing the projects for roads construction under Ispa, Yordanova said. Before the decision is taken, NRIA and Transport Ministry have to sign agreements for managing the projects financed under Ispa and Transport operational programme. The new agreements envisage that three representatives of Transport Ministry partake in each tender commission.