Bulgaria's Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA) was scheduled to open on June 8 the bids for the construction of the last stretch of Trakiya Highway, the 47.7km section linking the towns of Yambol and Karnobat.

A total 13 companies and consortiums put in bids to build the stretch, with construction scheduled to begin in September. The estimated cost of the highway stretch is 146 million euro and would be funded using money from the European Union's operational programme Transport.

Bulgarian consortium Magistrali Trace won the tender for the construction of the 32km stretch between Nova and Stara Zagora for 137.8 million leva excluding VAT, or an average of 2.2 million euro a km. By comparison, Trace constructed the section from Orizovo to Stara Zagora in 2007 for 2.4 million euro a km.

RIA signed the contract with Magistrali Trace on April 23 but the start of construction was almost put on hold over challenges with the competition regulator. Those challenges have now been withdrawn and the first sod ceremony was held earlier in June.

Greek construction firm Aktor offered the lowest price to build the stretch between Nova Zagora and Yambol, at a cost of 1.9 million euro a km, but was yet to be officially designated as the tender's winner. According to RIA head Bozhidar Yotov, an official announcement to that end could be made within days.

The concept for a motorway from Sofia to Bourgas on the Black Sea dates back to 1964, but actual construction was launched in 1975. The Sofia-Plovdiv part of the motorway took 10 years to build.