By the end of 2008 contracts for 200 million euro will have been concluded under the European Union (EU) operational programme Regional Development, Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Iskra Mihailova said during a meeting in Rousse on September 4.

After concluding the contracts, Bulgaria would fulfil its financial engagements for the second year of EU membership within this programme, she said, quoted in Bulgarian-language daily Dnevnik.

The work, under the EU Regional Development operational programme, started on November 14 2007. To date, municipalities from all Bulgarian regions have signed contracts amounting to 175 million leva.

In the Danube River region alone, agreements amounting to 59 million leva were concluded with the municipalities of Vidin, Vratsa, Rousse, Silistra, Glavnitsa, Berkovitsa, Nikopol Kozlodui, Slivo Pole and others, Mihailova said. The money is for repairing municipal road infrastructure, kindergartens and schools as well as cultural and social infrastructure.