The first long-anticipated tenders for construction of Bulgaria’s Trakiya motorway will be held in the autumn, said construction minister Rosen Plevneliev. The 115-kilometre road linking the eastern towns of Stara Zagora and Karnobat should be completed in the autumn of 2012, he said.

The ministry plans to tap European funding to bankroll the construction of the Maritsa motorway, which has so far been financed by the budget. The 67-kilometre stretch between Orizovo and Harmanli, in the south, has been divided into four sections, with tenders due to be invited next autumn. Construction works should finish by the spring of 2013.

The final 132-kilometre section of Struma motorway in southwestern Bulgaria has also been split in four portions. The tender for the first Dolna Dikanya-Dupnitsa section will be invited in the autumn of 2010, with building works due to wind up by the spring of 2013.

Early next year the ministry will seek a designer of the road between Dupnitsa and Blagoevgrad and the tender should take place in the spring of 2011. Within the same timeframe, the ministry plans to hold a tender for the section connecting Sandanski and Marikostinovo, with both projects due for completion by the spring of 2013.

The longest section, linking Blagoevgrad and Sandanski, will be built after 2014.

Cherno More motorway, which should link Bulgaria’s major Black Sea cities of Varna in the north and Bourgas in the south, will be an extension to Trakiya motorway and could be financed by European monies from 2014. If the economy picks up, the government could dip into the budget or concession it off, said prime minister Boyko Borissov. He pledged to build 65 km of motorways each year, outperforming the Netherlands, which he said floats out 55 km of new roads.

The premier said motorway construction is at the forefront of the government’s plans to shore up the faltering economy as it creates jobs.