Regional Development and Public Works Minister Valentin Tserovski Breaks Ground for Ilinden Tunnel

The Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Valentin Tserovski broke ground for a tunnel at the Ilinden border crossing on the Bulgarian-Greek border. Construction is expected to be completed ahead of schedule so that the tunnel is ready before the Athens Olympics in 2004, Spiros Koutlas of the Greek construction company Proоdeftiki said in an address at the ceremony. The early completing the construction of the tunnel at border check point Ilinden will not require additional funding, said Valentin Tserovski. The initial completion target was in November 2004. At The Ground-Breaking Ceremony were Christof Stock, Charge d’Affaires of the European Commission Delegation in Sofia, Greek Charge d’Affaires Ioannis Metaxas, MPs and Greek local government officials. The construction contract with the Greek company Proоdeftiki was signed late last year. The construction of the tunnel is financed under Phare Cross Border Cooperation cooperation between Bulgaria and Greece. It is worth 3,998,852 euros, including 3 million under Phare and the rest from the national budget. The tunnel is 447 m long and 147 m of it is on Bulgarian territory. Public Relations and International Activity Directorate