Bulgaria Renews Road Toll System Tender Despite PM Ban

The Road Infrastructure Agency of Bulgaria has relaunched the public procurement procedure to get a road toll system, its website shows.

The move, announced December 29, comes against the backdrop of a ban imposed by outgoing Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on calling new tenders or running current ones until the government in resignation is in office.

The procedure aims to find a company that will design, build and put in place a system collecting fees from vehicles whose weight is above 3.5 tons.

Appeals have halted the BGN 200 M tender several times since it was launched in April, the last one being in November.

However, a recent ruling by the competition watchdog and the Supreme Administrative Court turned down the claim, giving again the green light to the protracted tender.

Offers can be submitted until January 05, 2017, 17:00 local time (EET).

Authorities hope to raise as much as BGN 1.5 B a year through the system's introduction.