Eight large international banks were interested to finance the construction of the Trakiya highway, Bulgaria's Regional Development Minister Asen Gagaouzov told Bulgarian National Radio on January 20.

The construction of the highway has been given in concession to the Bulgarian-Portuguese consortium Magistrala Trakiya (Trakiya Highway), for which an annex to the contract had been signed on January 16.

Within 120 days after signing the annex, the concessionaire had to secure 590 million euro in financing, mediapool.bg said. According to Gagaouzov, Portuguese participation would not be more than 10 to 15 per cent. "There are no limitations to the banks or the conditions under which the credits are secured," Gagaouzov said. He said it was to be expected that the funding would be provided by one or two large international banks.

Before the end of 2009, the section between Stara Zagora and Karnobat would have to be build and by the beginning of 2011 the entire Trakiya highway would have to be ready, Gagaouzov said.

On January 19, Gagaouzov told Darik radio that if the amount of traffic on the highway would be lower than expected, the state could give an annual credit to a maximum of 10 million euro per year, which the concessionaire would have to return with interest.

Toll for the use of the highway would not be introduced until January 2010. A trip from Sofia to Bourgas would cost around 10 euro, which was much cheaper in most other European countries, mediapool.bg said.

Only the state would have the right to decide to increase tolls, Gagaouzov said.