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For Easter, it is planned to open the 7.5 kilometer section - bypassing the village of Novachene, from the expressway in the direction of Botevgrad-Mezdra.

This was announced to journalists by the Acting Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Arch.

Ivan Shishkov

Ivan Shishkov was born on September 14, 1963 in Sofia.

He graduated with a master's degree, inspecting the construction of the Vidin - Botevgrad road in the section between the villages of Lyutidol and Botevgrad near the village of Novachene.

Every kilometer of highway and expressway in this section and in this region of Bulgaria is extremely important for the region and for the people, commented the minister. 

The section is part of lot 1 of the Vidin - Botevgrad expressway, it has a separate construction permit and will be put into operation separately.

He reminded that the first construction permit was from 2016 for a section of one kilometer, and the rest of the construction permits were mainly from the end of 2020.

The minister pointed out that the design and construction of the Botevgrad - Vidin expressway should have happened much earlier, adding that work is currently being done intensively - in some places on expropriation, in other places on construction, and in others on approval of Detailed development plans.

The minister specified that in the section that is next to Mezdra, a procedure is now being carried out to amend the Detailed Development Plan (DSP), because in the current one it was planned that five of the intersections would be on the same level.

In about a month, it is expected that there will be an approved PUP.

At the beginning of February, the caretaker government allocated a little over BGN 776 million for the maintenance and construction of roads and highways.

Minister Shishkov then announced that the section inspected today also falls within the scope of the government decision.

Today he specified that 75 million BGN were paid to the builder.

On Thursday, it is planned to have an inspection on the "Europa" highway, and six or seven kilometers of the highway to the "Kalotina" checkpoint will be opened for traffic also for Easter, Shishkov said.

The minister added that the detour to Burgas is also expected to be completed for the upcoming holiday.

Ivan Shishkov