Calafat-Vidin bridge is the second bridge over the Danube linking Romania to Bulgaria, and it will be inaugurated in the second half of May, the earliest, the Bulgarian Transport Minister Kristian Krîstev, stated according to Agerpress.
The official thus dismissed speculations about earlier commissioning due to problems occurred at the first bridge between the two countries , the Giurgiu-Ruse one . Built in 1954, the only bridge linking Romania to Bulgaria was closed for two days to trucks weighing over 10 tons, as one of the lanes became impractical, since the asphalt deteriorated as did the reinforced concrete foundation structure .
The closure of the bridge has led to the formation of queues of hundreds of trucks at the nearest ferry , the one at the Zimnicea-Svishtov, and some Bulgarian carriers have asked the authorities to open the Calafat-Vidin Bridge for traffic, although still under construction.
Minister Kristev stated Tuesday that this was impossible, because the bridge was not ready nor were the documents necessary for it to be ready for use .
The Transports Minister in Bucharest also estimated, a month ago, that the Calafat-Vidin bridge linking Romania to Bulgaria would be inaugurated earlier, in the second half of May, a government meeting note reads.
Premier Victor Ponta, who inspected the constructions works on the bridge in October 2012, stated back then that the months of April or May of 2013 would be a realistic deadline for the bridge to be completed..
The completion deadline initially set was December 2010, but as a consequence of the planning drafted by the Bulgarian counterpart, different from the feasibility study initially drafted by the Bulgarian constructions engineer, the redesigning of the Romanian part of the construction had to be re-done too.
Regarding the construction works performed by the Romanian counterpart, they had to be suspended on account of the deadline extension required by the Bulgarian engineer, since the power supply for the overhead line and hence for the tests performance of the railway could not be accomplished. Also, the delays on the Bulgarian part have led to an increase of the project value for the Romanian counterpart by over 5 million Euros (related to conservation works, site organization, security, and the extension of consultancy services), which Romania has to pay from the state budget.
The Calafat-Vidin will have a length of about two kilometers, two-lane road in each direction, a railway line, two sidewalks and a bicycle track.
The costs of the construction works, which in 2011 were estimated at about 225 million Euros, will probably exceed EUR 250 million until the project completion.