Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev inspects traffic at Rousse Giurgiu border crossing checkpoint following his meeting with road haulers

Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev inspects traffic at Rousse-Giurgiu border-crossing checkpoint following his meeting with road haulers

01.08.2024

The separation of the flows of heavy-duty vehicles of EU member states and third countries is one of the ideas that was discussed at a meeting of Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev with members of the haulage sector and with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Lyudmila Petkova, Minister of Transport Georgi Gvozdeykov, Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Violeta Koritarova, Deputy Minister of Interior Stoyan Temelakiev, Director of the Customs Agency Georgi Dimov and Border Police officials.

The Prime Minister invited the haulage sector to a discussion following his visit earlier in the week to the Koulata border-crossing checkpoint in response to reports received about congested traffic and long lines of waiting vehicles. During the discussion, it became clear that the Koulata option could be applied to relieve the traffic along Danube Bridge 1 and Danube Bridge 2 where long columns of vehicles have been a problem for years. Tomorrow the Prime Minister will visit the Rousse-Giurgiu border-crossing checkpoint to see on the spot the situation as caused by the passage of heavy-duty vehicles. He will inspect the repair construction works that started on 10 July on the Bulgarian section of the bridge. Bulgaria stands ready to reopen the operation of the Rousse-Giurgiu ferry link that would relieve the traffic of heavy-duty vehicles by 20 to 30 percent. The Bulgarian side has the ambition for this to materialize in September.

The main issues that were commented on with the haulage sector included the easing of traffic and of the burden at the border-crossing checkpoints Danube Bridge 1 and Danube Bridge 2, Koulata, Lessovo and Kapitan Andreevo by the installation of extra points and desks for the processing of documents and the construction of modern parking lots where drivers can wait and repose. The haulage sector asked for an upgrade of the toll system and for a change in the methods of law enforcement so that it would not be an additional cause for delays and traffic jams.

A meeting will be convened again upon the initiation of the Transport Minister where all institutions in charge and members of the transportation industry will finalize the details. A meeting is to be held with Romania's Ambassador Brândușa-Ioana Predescu who will be informed about the proposal for the separation of the flows of heavy-duty vehicles of EU member states and third countries.

The members of the transportation industry supported Prime Minister Glavchev's idea as a first step in easing the traffic of heavy-duty vehicles at the country's border-crossing checkpoints.