SOFIA, May 9, 2018− The World Bank will provide advisory services to support the implementation by the Roads Infrastructure Agency of the National Electronic Tolling System in Bulgaria. A contract for the provision of Reimbursable Advisory Services was signed today by Dipl. Eng. Doncho Atanasov, Chair of the Management Board of the Road Infrastructure Agency of Bulgaria, and Tony Thompson, World Bank Country Manager for Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Under the contract, the World Bank will provide support for monitoring and quality assurance, expert and technical assistance, toll network and rate analysis and calculation, and technical communication support. A team of World Bank experts will also promote a transfer of knowledge and will assist Bulgaria in meeting EU directives on tolling.
The new engagement is a continuation of previous involvement, in which the World Bank has provided options for adopting a national tolling framework for Bulgaria. The model recommended by the World Bank incudes the introduction of e-tolling for heavy vehicles using on-board unit registering data that is based on the Global Navigation Satellite System, and e-vignette for light vehicles.
In January of this year, Bulgaria’s Road Infrastructure Agency signed a contract with a consortium led by Austria’s Kapsch TrafficCom to build a road toll system that is expected to triple annual revenues for the agency and boost the amount of funding available for road repairs.
“It is a privilege for the World Bank to partner with the Bulgarian Roads Infrastructure Agency and Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works in implementing cutting edge solutions to maximize revenues to address the critical needs of the road sector in Bulgaria. We are committed to continue bringing up the best of our global knowledge, along with promoting Bulgaria’s experience for the benefit of the whole region,” said Tony Thompson at the signing ceremony.
The agreement signed today needs parliamentary ratification to take effect. The analytical work undertaken by the World Bank will be the property of the Bulgarian government.
