Three Bulgarian railway transport projects have been approved by the European Union (EU) under the European transport network programme, Neli Yordanova, director of the section program and project co-ordination at Transport Ministry, announced.

Approved projects were the transport line Rousse - Varna and the construction of terminals in Plovdiv and Rousse. Total value of the approved projects was 7.3 million euro, half of which would be financed by the EU, BTA announced.

Yordanova said she had formed work groups to evaluate variants for the construction of additional bridges between Bulgaria and Romania. She did not say how many bridges were planned.

Expropriation procedures for around 102 000 sq m needed for the infrastructure of the second Danube bridge between Vidin and Kalafat, were still under way. This would not hinder current projects. In 2008, construction was expected to start on the projects, Yordanova said.

She added that another four tender procedures had been announced, for the construction and supervision of segments, for connecting the Hemus highway to the nothern arc of the Sofia ringroad, and for the I-5 Kurdjavli- Podkova.