Plovdiv Airport concessionaires to invest over 160 million Euros

Plovdiv Airport concessionaires will invest double the amount that was initially envisaged and in shorter terms. This emerged from the meeting between the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Ivaylo Moskovski and representatives of the Consortium between Hainan and Plovdiv Airport Invest. The initial version of the concession set out sight investments amounting to 79 083 000 Euros for a 35-year term. Following the completion of the legal procedures, a concession contract is to be signed. For each calendar year, the concessionaire will make a repayment that consists of fixed and variable parts. The fixed part amounts to 600 000 Levs, VAT excluded, and the variable part constitutes 6% of the total amount of the net revenues from all the activities during the corresponding year related to the utilization of the concession sight.

The Chinese investors presented Minister Moskovski with the plans for development of Plovdiv Airport. They expressed their intention to make the airport a key transport hub with a passenger terminal and two cargo terminals to handle large numbers of trucks. The airport runaway is to be fortified and extended. An aircraft repair workshop, similar to the one at Sofia Airport, is to be built. The Israeli company Israel Aerospace Industries have already stated their interest in operating the facility.

Minister Ivaylo Moskovski assured Hainan representatives that there is a project for a railway connection between the airport and the railway line Sofia-Plovdiv-Svilengrad at the railway station of Kroumovo. The length of the line to be constructed is four to five kilometers and construction works could start as of next year. The Minister undertook the commitment to cooperate for the extension and rehabilitation of the road infrastructure to improve the connectivity between Plovdiv Airport and the road to the town of Assenovgrad, as well as the connections to Trakia and Maritza highways. The possibility for financing under Juncker Plan will be studied.

The meeting noted that the significant investments to be made by the Consortium between Hainan and Plovdiv Airport Invest, as well as the rehabilitation of the transport connections to the airport, would not only increase cargo flow but also aid business and tourism development in the region.

The Minister pointed out that this is the first large transport project in Bulgaria to be implemented jointly with a Chinese company. Hainan representatives assured that they will look into the possibility to cooperate with attracting other Chinese companies to invest in Bulgaria. Moskovski, in his turn, invited Hainan management to participate in the business forums that will be organized within the meeting of state and government representatives of the countries of the Central and Eastern Europe and China in July in Sofia. Hainan representatives thanked Minister Ivaylo Moskovski and the Bulgarian government for the favourable attitude and commitment for the development of the airport and for their support.

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