Introduction of the toll system on Bulgarian roads postponed for 3 months

Following an hour long meeting of Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Borissov with representatives of the road hauliage sector and the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, it became clear that the introduction of the toll system was postponed for three months. Instead of August 16, it will start functioning in November 2019, explained Regional Minister Petya Avramova. For this purpose, a special change to the legislation will be made. Within these three months, a real field test will be carried out, with a special on-board device installed in each lorry in the country. The device will track the most commonly used routes and volume of heavy goods vehicle traffic. Shortly before the end of November, the state and the road hauliers will discuss the final tariff rates and the final range of roads that will fall under the new toll system.

Both road hauliers and the regional development minister have pointed out that it is important that the system starts functioning in order to have a fair charging. According to Avramova, the state collects annually BGN 360 million and 110 million of them from heavy goods vehicles, and this amount added to state funding remains insufficient to maintain the road network in the country and to build new roads.