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Sofia is set to see the completion of ten new metro stations by 2027 according to an announcement from Mayor Vasil Terziev During a recent inspection of the metro extension project Terziev highlighted that the new stations will significantly enhance the city’s public transport system The mayor emphasized that these ten new stations are expected to handle 46% of the city's daily passenger flow He expressed satisfaction with the current progress noting that the construction is proceeding as planned the executive director of "Metropolitan," reviewed the progress and confirmed that all aspects of the project are on track The new stations will include three located on the "Poduene" route six stations along the railway station "Slatina" near Tsarigradsko Shose from "Slatina" to "Tsarigradsko Shose," and the "Slivnitsa-Obelya" line are progressing according to schedule Terziev mentioned that there will be numerous milestones to celebrate in 2026 and 2027 as these projects reach completion We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria Residents of Sofia who are customers of "Toplofikatsia Sofia" can now benefit from a new mobile application "My Heat," which offers a more accessible and user-friendly way to manage heating-related services The fourth edition of the LUNAR Festival of Lights in Sofia will illuminate 10,000 square meters of art across some of the city's most iconic buildings and public spaces from May 8 to May 11 The Sofia Police has launched a targeted operation against drivers of electric scooters and electric motorbikes who engage in reckless behavior in the city's central areas Todor Kantardzhiev warned that Sofia's sewer system should be cleared of rats opened fire with a gas pistol near a kindergarten in Sofia's Lyulin district Sofia Municipality is set to implement a revised framework for managing its municipal housing stock by introducing two distinct rental categories Employers in Bulgaria are legally required to implement all necessary measures to prevent and minimize workplace accidents with 45.2% of those aged 16–74 having bought goods or services via the internet in the past year The National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology forecasts that May will bring temperatures ranging from 2°C to 33°C across Bulgaria a trend that has persisted for over 30 years A Romanian family paid 3,084.60 leva (1,500 euros) for medical treatment at the Burgas University Hospital following a serious road accident Google Street View Cars Return to Bulgaria for Major Mapping Update Housing Prices Soar in Bulgaria’s Major Cities as Demand and Supply Strain Increase The Sofia metro system is expanding with the construction of 10 new stations These stations are located in three major areas of the city as part of an ongoing development to enhance public transport Three stations are being built on Vladimir Vazov Blvd while six additional stations are being constructed through the Slatina residential area one more station is planned on Pancho Vladigerov Blvd. linking the Slivnitsa and Obelya districts these new stations are projected to increase the metro's capacity to handle 46% of Sofia's daily passenger traffic The expansion also includes the nearly 70% completed route through Poduyane the extension of Line 3 through Slatina to Arena 8888 Sofia and Tsarigradsko Shose the Municipality plans to launch the work of a tunnel boring machine on February 6 aimed at constructing tunnels for the Slatina metro extension The machine is expected to make steady progress Work is also underway on a new metro station in the Obelya district located between Slivnitsa and Obelya municipal districts This station will provide an intermodal connection between the metro the railway network (with trains from Dragoman the total length of the metro network will reach 61 km making up about 50% of Sofia's public transport system feasibility studies are being conducted for future extensions including one to the Studentski Grad area and another to the lower station of the Simeonovo lift the organization of traffic at the 32nd km of road I is changing -8 Kalotina - Sofia The change is related to ensuring traffic safety during the construction of the section of the motorway (AM) “Europe” from Slivnitsa to the connection with the Sofia Ring Road This was announced by the press center of the "Road Infrastructure" Agency For the implementation of the construction and installation works traffic in the direction of Sofia will be restricted in a nearly 260-meter section between the 32nd and 33rd km and cars will pass in both directions in the lane for Kalotina In another approximately 650-meter section in both directions motor vehicle traffic will be completely restricted They will be redirected along the newly built road connection Sofia - Kalotina and at km 33+483 they will return to the first-class road The API states that drivers need to pass through the section with caution strictly following the road signs and the speed limit of 50 km/h keeping a distance and not undertaking risky overtaking that endangers the safety of other travelers Agency “Road infrastructure“ apologizes to the drivers for the inconvenience caused but the introduction of the temporary organization of the traffic is necessary for the implementation of the construction and installation works All citizens and transport companies can receive information about the current road situation from the website of the API - www.api.bg as well as at any time of the day by calling the API on 0700 130 20 part of the clover on “Bulgaria“ Blvd The entry of road vehicles on the road connection from “Bulgaria“ Blvd as well as on the road connection from SOP to “Bulgaria“ Blvd. direction “Daskal Stoyan Popandreev” More news from Bulgaria The Commission has approved an investment of more than €183 million from the Cohesion Fund for building 33.403 km of the new Europa Motorway within the section linking the Kalotina checkpoint at the Bulgaria-Serbia border with the ring road around Bulgaria’s capital This will contribute to better integration of the Bulgarian road system into the European transport network The project is financed under Operational Programme “Transport and transport infrastructure” 2014-2020 The investment falls under the priority “Development of road infrastructure along the ‘core’ and ‘comprehensive’ Trans-European Transport Network” The motorway has a design speed of 110 km/h and is built to carry heavy traffic with two lanes in each direction and a 3 m central reservation a 16.947 km section is already in use and constitutes a modernisation of the existing I-8 road This section includes two junctions near Slivnitsa and connections with the III-811 road The remaining 16.456 km is under construction on a route that diverges from that of the I-8 It features a roundabout junction to the north of Kostinbrod and another to the south Connections will be established with the I-8 and other roads linking Sofia Part of the core Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) the I-8 between Kalotina and the Sofia ring road provides an important link to the TEN-T Orient/Eastern-Mediterranean Corridor Prior to the implementation of the project it was a single carriageway road with two- The project will increase the road’s capacity bringing it up to TEN-T motorway standards safety and traffic flow should improve and constraints on overtaking will be eliminated the motorway will reduce noise and harmful emissions It will also make the region a more attractive destination for investment the first section of the Sofia Metro was put into operation - from "Slivnitsa" to "Konstantin Velichkov" the capital's metro has 52 trains on the first and second lines and 30 on the third a new section of 9 km is being built and the remaining 20 km will be in different parts of the city It is expected that the metro will develop further to the north where the areas are poorly developed and have not been utilized the metro can stimulate construction and the pressure on the southern regions will begin to decrease The third line of the metro will develop towards the "Vrazhdebna" district Foreign Minister Georgi Georgiev has left for Washington where he will participate in the Munich Leaders Meeting (May 5-7 The forum is organised by the Munich Security Conference The foundation Unity- Kočani has sent an open letter to key Bulgarian institutions expressing gratitude for the support and humanitarian assistance provided by Bulgaria after the tragedy of the fire at a nightclub in Kočani The foreign ministers of Bulgaria and Greece Georg Georgiev and Giorgos Gerapetritis signed a joint declaration on the use of the waters of the river Arda on 2 May the BNR reports citing an announcement published by the Greek Foreign Ministry.. people will be able to withdraw money  from ATMs only in the new currency according to the website of the Bulgarian. helicopters of the Bulgarian Air Force will fly at low altitude over Sofia in preparation for a military parade marking the Day. The Bulgarian student teams that participated in the European Olympiad of Experimental Sciences EOES 2025 in Zagreb have returned with. english@bnr.bg “Today is a good day because we will be able to make the first sod of the last section of the Europe Motorway This is what the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works architect Ivan Shishkov said at a ceremony marking the start of construction of the remaining 16.5 kilometres of the infrastructure project construction has started on a nearly 6-kilometer stretch /from km 39+600 to km 45+300/ for which expropriations have been completed and a building permit issued as of 28.04.2023 work will continue on the remaining 10.5 km The ceremony was attended by Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Nikolay Shushkov Governor of Sofia Region Radoslav Stoychev Engineer Desislava Paunova - member of the Board of the Road Infrastructure Agency The Minister pointed out that the start of the work on the route is the result of the huge effort made for its implementation since the inauguration of the caretaker cabinet detailed development plans have been approved for this section expropriations have been carried out and a building permit has been issued The minister showed the document and thanked all the mayors of the localities through which the future route will pass who have helped to make today come And expressed the expectation that the builder will work intensively and qualitatively and within a year and a half will have permission to use the section Minister Shishkov explained that the construction permit had been issued for nearly 6 kilometres of the 16.5-kilometre stretch co-financed with EU funds so that the contractor could start work And he reminded that the section is part of the motorways which he described as “asleep” The Regional Minister expressed his satisfaction that the efforts made have yielded results and a front has been given to work on the last section of the Motorway Europe “I hope we can prove to our partners that we are making progress and get a reprieve within the next year so we don’t lose the money we would certainly lose the money,” Ivan Shishkov said He added that it was extremely important that this motorway be fully ready and connect Bulgaria with Serbia and Europe The Regional Minister informed that the expropriation of the necessary land for the construction of the remaining part of the route is expected to be completed in a month and in about a month - month and a half there will be a building permit for it so that the builder can proceed “For us the deadlines are extremely important It was not by chance that I thanked everyone who worked actively We have worked very hard and today I am personally pleased that we are making the groundbreaking We may have another whole highway in a year and a half,” Minister Shishkov said And he reminded that apart from the Trakia Motorway the problem of a completed highway within the next year would be real,” he said Responding to a question about the “sleepy motorways” the Minister informed that the first stage of the strengthening of the landslide at the Zheleznitsa tunnel on the Struma Motorway is expected to be completed by August so that traffic in one direction through the facility can be released albeit in a very small section of the motorway which we are practically entering with the gorge in mind I say that because the alignment hasn’t been decided yet the Struma motorway is the other one where we have the great ambition to make it so that the construction starts and is completed as soon as possible and the Struma motorway is completed in its entirety,” architect Shishkov said “Intensive work is being done on the expropriation of the new highway Ruse - Veliko Tarnovo We expect that in September we will have the expropriation of part of the Ruse - Byala section completed and ready for the start of construction Every kilometre is important and every front we can put forward we are putting it forward,” the minister added The section of Europe Motorway /from km 32+447 to km 48+903/ will run on a completely new route between Slivnitsa and the Sofia ring road and will flow into the Northern Expressway as well as four road connections and two road junctions - “Kostinbrod” and “Mramor” The contractor of the construction is Company under the Obligations and Contracts Act “Europe-2022” Glavbolgarstroy International EAD and Obonato Build EOOD participate in the project The value of the contract is BGN 266 959 487,34 including VAT The construction supervision was awarded to Company under the Obligations and Contracts Act “Europe” with participants - Patinvestengineering JSC Their contract is for BGN 5 599 999,20 including VAT The construction of the section between Slivnitsa and the Sofia Ring Road is part of the project “Motorway Europe from km 15+500 to km 48+903” (BG16M1OP001-2.001-0005) co-financed by the Cohesion Fund of the European Union and the national budget through the Operational Programme on Transport and Transport Infrastructure 2014-2020 The project includes two sections - from Dragoman to Slivnitsa /from km 15+500 to km 32+447,20/ and from Slivnitsa to Sofia ring road /from km 32+447,20 to km 48+903/ The world-famous actor and director John Malkovich is preparing his own show which will be performed on the stage of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre in Sofia during the 2024/2025 theater season Rehearsals with the Bulgarian actors are expected to begin in September next year A pianist and conductor with a world-class career Ivan Yanakov has been performing on several continents for decades He has played as a soloist with prestigious orchestras in famous halls The Night of Musicals takes place tonight at the Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports in Veliko Tarnovo The first major ballet event in the festive jubilee programme celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Stara Zagora Opera is the premiere of "Parisian Nights" The expansion of Sofia's "Opalchenska" street is set to commence on July 16 director of the Transport Directorate of the Capital Municipality This project will focus on the stretch from "Slivnitsa" Blvd aiming to enhance traffic flow and accommodate public transport needs the construction will begin at the intersection of "Slivnitsa" Blvd necessitating a prolonged closure of the thoroughfare This marks the initial phase of the project which will also involve significant reorganization of public transportation routes The expansion plan includes allocating additional space along the sides of Opalchenska Street to widen it Each traffic direction will expand to three lanes with one lane specifically designated for public transport ensuring improved efficiency and accessibility Originally scheduled for development since 2013 the renovation of Opalchenska Street faced delays primarily due to property expropriation procedures The initiation of the project was finally confirmed when Sofia Municipality announced a public contract for a construction contractor by the end of 2021 In addition to the Opalchenska Street expansion Nikolov noted ongoing repair work on the tram route along "Alexander Stamboliyski" Blvd. stretching from the "Zapaden Park" tram stop to "Konstantin Velichkov" Blvd. reflecting broader efforts to enhance Sofia's urban infrastructure The construction of the first seventeen kilometer-long section of Europe motorway connecting the towns of Dragoman and Slivnitsa has been completed Construction works ended six months ahead of schedule The section is part of the Pan-European corridor London-Budapest-Belgrade-Sofia-Plovdiv-Istanbul-Calcutta which is the shortest road connecting Western Europe Europe motorway connecting Kalotina border crossing and Bulgaria’s capital Sofia is 48 kilometers long Construction of the 14.5 kilometer section between the Bulgaria-Serbia border and the town of Dragoman continues The third section of the motorway between Slivnitsa and Sofia will be 16 kilometers long The technical design of the new section is being prepared has announced plans to enhance road safety in the capital by installing stationary speed control cameras at critical locations Terziev shared the news on his Facebook profile detailing the specific areas where the cameras will be deployed The identified locations include key thoroughfares such as the Ring Road The decision to install these cameras aims to address speeding and improve overall traffic safety in Sofia The mayor emphasized that the Metropolitan Municipality will oversee the design and preparation for the camera placements while the Sofia Police (SDVR) will provide the devices themselves Terziev mentioned the ongoing efforts of traffic police teams equipped with mobile speed cameras which are already operational in the municipality In collaboration with Chief Commissioner Lyubomir Nikolov Terziev revealed plans for regular meetings between the Sofia Municipality and the SDVR to jointly work towards a safer urban environment Terziev highlighted the importance of road safety around educational institutions and discussed measures to address traffic violations and accidents Suggestions included improving lighting at intersections implementing traffic-calming measures such as bumps and raised intersections and enhancing pedestrian pathways with additional signaling Acknowledging concerns about reckless driving and improper parking obstructing traffic flow Terziev called for systematic enforcement and stricter penalties for offenders He underscored the efforts of the Center for Urban Mobility in monitoring parking violations and ensuring smoother traffic operations From 5 to 13 February Sredets Gallery in Sofia is hosting the exhibition It marks the 165th birth anniversary of classic Ivan Vazov chief curator at the Vazov museum-house in the capital city: "Anyone of us Bulgarians can discover themselves in his robust creative legacy going across various genres He is Bulgaria's national writer because he provides an in-depth and extensive portrayal of all things Bulgarian the way are - with both the high and low aspects of the national character the most important lesson he wanted to teach us is to try and love ourselves the way we are After all he loved his country and its people unconditionally Vazov would tell us that should we fail to go to the seven Rila lakes we could at least read his brilliant travel notes The Great Wilderness of Rila or should we lack in good wording for our love for Bulgaria or disenchantment with her we could at least turn to his poem Beloved Fatherland If we take a look around we would immediately come across Vazovian quotes in various public messages the mourning book at the Ministry of Defense was full of quotes from his celebrated elegy The New Cemetery Above Slivnitsa Many Bulgarians had simply borrowed Vazov's unsurpassed expression of grief.” and even more importantly he had a strong sense of a mission despite that his life until he turned 45 was full of hardships and reckless adventures he never steered away from his mission of being the bard of Bulgaria So we can quite definitely argue that he had a very tough character tough as the Balkan Range where he came from and he unwaveringly served his mission pen in hand and thus did his great service to Bulgaria.” Mirela Ivanova tells us more about translations of Vazov works abroad fact is that Ivan Vazov is the most translated Bulgarian writer of all time it is curious to know that the novel Under the Yoke was translated and released in English ahead of its first autonomous edition in Bulgaria The translation was made using the version of the novel published in the Miscellany of Folklore and Literature released by the Ministry of Public Education in Sofia Professor of English Alexander Shurbanov and renowned British Slavicist Prof Michael Holman suggested a new interpretation of the first translations of Under the Yoke through an exploration of their base outstripped the autonomous Bulgarian one too The Danish translation was released almost simultaneously with the first Bulgarian edition Ten years after the novel's official release it was translated into almost all major European languages It has been compared to Homer's epic and called a national epic there are new translations of the novel because language is like a living thing and never stops changing and growing new translations display a more contemporary language.” The Sredets Gallery exhibition features thirty works by prominent artists such as Ivan Mrkvicka Georgi Evstatiev and Andrey Nikolov that Vazov received as a token of great love and respect for him Other items on display include congratulatory addresses and a silver lyre with a wreath with names of Vazovian works written on its leaves "Here we display the gifts that great masters of art gave to him a look at the letters that he got from across the country and from the frontlines of the Second Balkan War of 1913 and World War 1 from soldiers and later from parents of soldiers who had died in combat makes clear he enjoyed the nation's genuine love and admiration that he fully reciprocated His contemporaries knew for sure that there was a Bulgarian man of letters who was able to defend the national dignity and appease their grieving souls Ivan Vazov is unique on the Bulgarian public scene with his comprehensive and majestic presence during his lifetime Bulgarian Land Forces mark Saturday their official holiday November 19 was designated as the Day of Bulgaria's Land Forces in 1992 with a decision of the Council of Ministers and an order of the then Defense Minister The date was chosen because on November 19 Bulgaria's army won a great victory in the Slivnitsa battle during the Serb-Bulgarian War This was also the beginning of the establishment of the country's independent army representatives of the land forces and of military patriotic Bulgarian unions took part in the traditional march in the footsteps of Slivnitsa's heroes at locations where battles were held in 1885 The Land Forces are the largest in numbers force of Bulgaria's army Bulgarian businesses are actively recruiting students to fill seasonal positions for the upcoming summer offering earnings ranging from 4,000 to 6,000 leva Bulgaria commemorates one of its most significant national holidays – the Day of Saint George the Victorious and the official Day of the Bulgarian Army all retailers in Bulgaria will be required to display prices in both leva and euros a major British tour operator specializing in holidays to Bulgaria has halted all its operations effective April 24 Wage growth in Bulgaria is projected at 9.3 percent for 2025 a 15.4 percent rise in the minimum wage since January According to Bulgaria's Military Intelligence Service report for 2023 Russia remains the dominant destabilizing force in global security A deviation in the operation of a system on the F-16 Block 70 fighter has been identified during the aircraft acceptance process according to the Bulgarian Air Force Commander The second F-16 Block 70 fighter jet purchased by Bulgaria has departed from the United States alongside European Council President Antonio Costa visited the Arsenal military plant in Kazanlak Russia and the volatile situation in the Western Balkans are identified as the primary threats to Bulgaria’s national security in the 2024 Bulgaria is actively defending its national interests within NATO according to Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov