Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev opened a 2.7km section of the Sofia ring road's south arc, which had been widened, a Council of Ministers media statement said on December 15.

The symbolic first sod for the modernisation of the road from Simeonovsko Shousse to Bulgaria Boulevard, 4.571 km long, was turned on November 8 2006. The government granted nearly 40 million leva of the budget for its construction, the media statement reminded.

During the opening Stanishev said the new modernised road would alleviate Sofia's heavy traffic and would facilitate the traffic from Trakiya highway in the direction of Koulata in southern Bulgaria. Stanishev emphasised the fact that the government would carry on with the plan to solve Sofia's traffic jams, through with the construction of the Lyulin highway, the Sofia subway and the Trakiya highway.

The widening of the south arc was due to finish in 2009. The new road would have 3 lanes in each direction, 3.5m wide each. Two road junctions would be built for the Simeonovo and Dragalevtsi residential areas, the media statement said.