MEP Andrey Novakov proposes navigation channel between Ruse and Varna

Photo: Bulgaria ON AIR

Is it possible to implement the project for a navigation channel between Ruse and Varna?

“If you ask the EP, it has already said yes – such a thing is possible. We worked for a long time on this idea, so that we find a sufficient majority in the committee on transport and later make it so that no one opposes in the plenary. Whatever and to happen from here on, it is a sufficient reason to study the possibility of carrying out such a project with European money”, said MEP Andrey Novakov in the program “Brussels 1”.

“Note that we are not talking about a wish here, but a legislative report that does not simply say that the possibility of dredging should be studied or considered, but that the Rhine-Danube corridor should be extended with a diversion from Ruse to Varna with specific points that we have noted. These are Targovishte, Razgrad, Shumen, Provadia, Devnya and Varna,” emphasized Novakov.

MEP Emil Radev clarified that this project is not a current idea. Already in the Ottoman Empire, with the construction of the Ruse-Varna railway line, the digging of this canal was thought of as an alternative.

According to him, in the social years, this project was already ready and had ready values, and their last calculation was in the early 90s. “So if this project is realized at this moment, new value accounts will be needed, because inflation is huge, the prices of materials and labor have changed drastically,” the MEP believes.

“Once the design is done, from then on we will know what the real value will be. We can say that more than three quarters can appear with European funds, so this project as trans-European comes out with a lot of added value. Not only for Bulgaria and for the EU, because if it is implemented, the shipping route will be shortened by 2 days. Here we are also talking about ecological transport, the safest. And just to say that a group of 4 tug barges can transport 7000 tons. If you have to with railway wagons to be transported, that’s about 175 wagons of 40 tons or about 285 tyres of 25 tons. We can see what a huge facility it is to have such a waterway, and it would also make the port of Varna as an entry point to the external border of the EU much more -attractive because we know how much Constanța has earned from the canal there. The Romanians are also working on a second canal that will make Bucharest a port city. They will connect it to the Danube. So it is only right that Bulgaria also finds enough support and here is our call in the Council to are lobbying our government well enough to make this project happen. And the deadline for the implementation of these projects is 2040,” explained the MEP.

“In Bulgaria, for some projects, the delay is about 100 years. Taking into account that the tunnel under Shipka was planned more or less during the time of Tsar Ferdinand, we can say that we are moving with a delay of about 100-110 years”, said the MEP Andrey Novakov in front of Bulgaria ON AIR.

“The EC should have a special supervision, a fast track, a simplified procedure to monitor their implementation, regardless of whether a minister or mayor is replaced by another. This should not affect a project that has already been approved, financed and it has started to be implemented,” Novakov told host Milena Milotinova.

Asked what the chances were of having a regular cabinet, he said: “High, if it depends on the qualities of the proposals for Prime Minister Mrs Gabriel, as I know she is an impeccable professional, one of the most successful commissioners in this commission.”

Check out the video of the entire conversation.