Bulgaria and Romania Launch Joint Public Procurement for Danube River Dredging

The Bulgarian government has taken a long-awaited concrete step toward significantly improving navigation along the Danube River. The Council of Ministers has officially approved the Agreement between the Executive Agency for Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube River (EAEMDR) and the Lower Danube River Administration – Galați, Romania, which gives the green light for launching joint public procurement procedures under the key FAST Danube 2 project, focused on dredging the river.

This decision unlocks the practical implementation phase of the large-scale project, with a total value of nearly €230 million (excluding VAT). The public procurement will cover a wide range of activities critical to ensuring effective and safe navigation on the Danube — from environmental monitoring and design to construction and construction supervision.

Bulgaria’s financial commitment to FAST Danube 2 amounts to €111.8 million, with up to 85% expected to be provided as a grant by the European Commission through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

The government’s approval marks the culmination of months of preparation and cooperation between the two Danube countries. The planned engineering measures along the shared Bulgarian-Romanian stretch of the river aim to improve navigability and enhance traffic safety — both key factors for the more efficient use of the Danube as a transport corridor.

Romania is also deeply committed to the project, consistently emphasizing the importance of free navigation on the river — even in the context of negotiations for new infrastructure links, such as a third bridge between the two countries.