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The expected toll revenue for 2023 is around BGN 770-820 million, said the director of the toll system, Georgi Temelkov.
He added that about 2/3 of the total revenue should be generated by the traffic of heavy goods, as is the practice in the European Union (EU).
From 1 January next year, a 10% reduction in vignettes and a 50% increase in toll rates are expected, Temelkov added during a panel discussion on “Two years of the toll system: pros and cons. Accelerate the development and construction of motorways in Bulgaria through public-private partnership. Changes in charging policy needed. ” The discussion is sponsored by the interim Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Arch. Ivan Shishkovinform BTA.
Temelkov expressed the hope that in the coming years the toll system will reach a turnover of one billion BGN per year, as was the demand when it was created.
The idea of the toll system was to use every penny of it to build the road network, said Eng. Ivo Ivanov, Chairman of the Board of the Road Infrastructure Agency, adding that the modernization and development of the road infrastructure in the 2014-2020 period was severely limited in the budget, which was BGN 250 million.
According to the World Bank’s analysis, to achieve 10% of repairs on the Republican road network, a budget of BGN 1.5 billion is needed – for rehabilitation, maintenance and cleaning in winter, Ivanov said.
According to him, in this way the severe deterioration of the compromised pavements will be avoided and it will be possible to keep the road infrastructures in good condition. As of 2020-2022, so far with the money that has been allocated, we have reached three percent of the World Bank analysis. We hope to reach this 10% in 2023-2025 with a guaranteed budget of one billion leverage, he added.
The situation in Europe and the world is changing very rapidly and turning into a very serious crisis, says Petar Mutafchiev – Chairman of the Board of the Forum for Balkan Transport and Infrastructure. He cited the war in Ukraine as the main reason for this.
The priorities of the Bulgarian state are also changing. Inflation and rising prices lead to serious social disruptions, which must be detected by the state, Mutafchiev added. According to him, governments are turning to social policies and this affects business.
“Governments are increasingly talking about allocating funds to offset fuel prices. Due to the war in Ukraine, the Bulgarian state is aiming to modernize our army. According to forecasts, if all these intentions are realized, the budget deficit will be around 11 billion BGN, “he said and added that this raises the question of whether there will be funds to invest in infrastructure, and particularly in the road sector.
