Bulgaria Road Safety Sector
The Government of Bulgaria started a new, coordinated, and systematized approach to traffic accident countermeasures. This new approach will include planning periods with each successive new period building on the results of the preceding one. The government has set a 30 km/h speed limit in various sections of the capital and is currently considering additional road safety measures, such as traffic cones on the country’s six most dangerous roadways and development of a preventive information system for traffic accidents available for all drivers on certain roads. The Mayor of Sofia has called for the installation of more speed cameras and increased police control in the capital city. If fully approved by the Sofia City Council, the municipality will announce procurement procedures on the CAIS EOP portal – Sofia Municipality or at https://app.eop.bg/ (Note: the site requires registration).
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Bulgaria’s Recovery and Resilience Plan initiated a project with the objective of reducing the risk of road traffic accidents and injuries by improving key road safety management processes. The plan will be implemented by developing and integrating new software applications for better management and prioritization of road safety activities, as well as providing specialized equipment for evaluating the state of road safety. Additionally, the proposal includes construction of a nationwide electronic system for submitting and processing signals related to road infrastructure safety, along with the procurement of equipment needed for ongoing road repair and maintenance.
The total estimated budget to carry out this plan is estimated at $5.9 million (BGN 12 million), with implementation taking place through 2024. The EU Recovery and Resilience Plan will provide $4.9 million (BGN 10 million), with $986,000 (BGN 2 million) coming from the national co-financing plan. The project is also expected to improve traffic conditions at border checkpoints through implementation of a system that will control the passage of cross-border traffic of heavy goods.
Most of the public procurement procedures related to the road traffic safety will be announced by the Road Infrastructure Agency department of the Bulgarian Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works - https://www.mrrb.bg/en/ . The Bulgarian Road Safety State Agency is the assigned state agency to draft the public traffic safety national strategy and policies.
For more information, please contact Peter Delin: Peter.Delin@trade.gov