[size=85:53i71rlu]novnite 18 May 2010
Bulgaria Capital to Become Business Hub
Sofia should become a city where high-tech industries enjoy rapid development, a leading business European city, said Tuesday Sofia's Chief Architect Petar Dikov.
Dikov outlined plans for the city's development during the 6th World Meeting of Bulgarian Media in Vienna, announcing that in a couple of months the Sofia central Vitosha Blvd will become an entirely pedestrian area with trams no longer running in the area.
Tram traffic may also be banned down the central Graf Ignatiev Blvd.
Dikov said Tuesday that the unsuccessful Sofia Land amusement is a private investment and that the municipality will try and build a similar public facility in the one of the city's largest green areas – Zapaden park.
“Building office centers, renovating the industrial zones and developing the region where the former Kremikovtsi steel-plant is located are some of the priority's of the Sofia municipality, ” said Dikov.
Kremikovsti, Bulgaria's largest steel plant, situated in the outskirts of Sofia, suffered massive bankruptcy.
The municipality, explained Dikov, has come up with a plan to revamp the region by building an Eastern European business and financial center with logistical centers, offices and residential areas.
The city's transport infrastructure will also be improved.
Sofia's chief architect vowed Tuesday that the construction of the capital's metro will continue and that parking in the city's centers will be facilitated by a new underground parking lot in the area of Zhenski pazar (the Women's Market).
Dikov made it clear that bringing the construction of Bulgaria's three highways – Trakiya, Hemus and Lyulin – to a close is also primary to the city's future growth.
The construction of the strip of the Trakiya highway connecting the cities of Stara Zagora and Nova Zagora is already underway, after the "
Unified Highway Trace"
company won the tender for the construction of the new 32-kilometer-long section of the Trakiya Highway at the end of February and a month later signed a contract with the Bulgarian Road Infrastructure Agency.
Construction of the 3rd stretch of the highway, between the cities of Nova Zagora and Karnobat, is set to begin by August 2010.
The budget of the project is BGN 3 M per kilometer and an overall of 11 companies have come up with bids.
Tue May 18, 2010 8:19 pm
