The construction of the Trakiya Highway may be launched but this is likely to happen in the spring of 2008, BTA reports. The charge per km of the highway will be 2.7 million euro and the road toll - 2.5 eurocents/km, being the lowest in Europe. This transpired following a meeting of deputy ministers of regional development and public works Savin Kovachev and Kalin Rogachev with representatives of the European Commission's Transport DG and Eurostat.

The meeting was held on Bulgarian initiative. The Commission representatives asked ten questions aimed at clarifying whether undue state aid will have to be granted to the concessionaires, which is inadmissible under the EU legislation. Following the explanations given the Commission members voiced surprise that construction activities have not been launched yet.

Although this is not a condition for the beginning of the construction, the Bulgarian side requested a written permit to this end by the institutions.

The time by the beginning of the construction will be used for negotiations with the United Bank of Switzerland, which is ready to extend credits for the construction of the highway. It is expected to become operational as of January 1, 2010.