Border police and the customs agency have taken steps to speed up traffic at the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing, aiming for about 1,000 lorries a day, the Ministry of Transport and Communications said.
Rebuilding work should finish in the middle of next year. About 1m lorries a year now pass through Kapitan Andreevo. Once the work is done, the crossing will handle more than 25% more, over 1.25m.
Transport and communications minister Georgi Peev called a meeting with freight hauliers to discuss how to ease the load on the crossing and organise traffic better. Also there were deputy minister Hristina Velinova, border police director chief commissioner Anton Zlatanov, customs agency director Nikolay Shushkov and Boyko Ranovski, executive director of the Automobile Administration agency.
Those at the meeting discussed having lorries leave the Maritsa motorway for safe waiting areas. Drivers would go through some of the checks there, and the lorries would then be sent on to the crossing in an organised way.
The rebuilt crossing will have more booths for lorries, including new double and reversible booths. Lanes for entering and leaving can then be switched, depending on which direction has the longer queue.
The state is also building a new crossing, Kapitan Andreevo – Kapıkule North, right next to the current one. It will be for heavy lorries only and should be ready within two years. A project for the Lesovo crossing would double the number of entry and exit lanes. The crossing could then handle up to 2,000 lorries a day.
The ministry says border and customs checks will not get weaker, because Kapitan Andreevo is part of the Schengen area's external border.
"Our aim is to raise the crossing's capacity while keeping a high level of border and customs control," Peev said. He said traffic at the crossing can be better organised only if all the institutions involved and the hauliers work together all the time.
Today the border police directorate of the interior ministry said traffic is very heavy for lorries leaving Bulgaria through Kapitan Andreevo and Lesovo.