Bulgarian Trace Group, Patishta Holding and Glavbolgarstroy could be hired as subcontractors by the Bulgarian-Portuguese consortium picked to complete and operate the Trakia motorway under a concession arrangement, Regional Development and Public Works Minister Asen Gagauzov said on February 27, as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

On December 16, 2004, the Government awarded the concession to Magistrali Trakia Jsc, a Portuguese-Bulgarian consortium, which has to build a 190km stretch and repair 162 km of the Trakia Highway, receiving in return the right to collect the road toll for 35 years. The total length of road, which runs from Kalotina on Bulgaria's border with Serbia to Bourgas on the Black Sea via Sofia, Plovdiv, Orizovo, Chirpan, Stara Zagora, Nova Zagora, Yambol, Karnobat and Aytos, is 433km. Only 293.5 km are operational now.

Asked why he pointed out those three companies, Gagaouzov said the concession contract had no specific rules on the subcontracting procedures and added that the companies he mentioned were big enough and had sufficient experience to meet the challenge. Trace Group and Putishta Holding are the companies that have received the largest number of public procurement contracts from the ministry during Gagaouzov's tenure, Dnevnik daily said.

The subcontractors' selection should be approved by the state and the concessionaire consortium would have the last word whether the subcontractors would become shareholders in the venture.

If the Portuguese-Bulgarian consortium does not secure financing of the project within 120 days from February 27, a deadline it was given by a Government decision in December 2007, Gagaouzov will have to ask the Finance Ministry to secure funding so that construction can start this year, Gagaouzov said.

But Gagaouzov said he believed that the consortium would find the money on time. Talks were already underway with major banks: UBS, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, but the consortium also insisted on a Bulgarian bank being included in the project.