A billion euro will be invested in building and fixing roads in Bulgaria over the next six years, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and Transport Minister Petar Moutafchiev said during an inspection of the construction of a railway connecting Plovdiv and Svilengrad.

By 2013, the same amount will be invested in Bulgaria's transport infrastructure, according to Focus news agency.

About 580 million euro will finance railroad infrastructure. About 990 million euro will go toward a subsidy for transport programmes, to be spent on road construction and redevelopment.

Bulgaria's transport programme has the biggest budget of the seven operational programmes for EU funds.

Next year will see the construction of a 10.5km highway between Plovdiv and Asenovgrad.

The road between Sofia and Plovdiv will be reconstructed next year. Preliminary estimates say that the 100km road will cost 25 million euro.