‘Burgas now has a number of ‘smart’ management systems at its disposal – including for maritime transport control. It is not just a smart city, but also a smart naval centre with the most cutting-edge technology set in the Black sea basin’ said GERB/EPP MEP Eva Paunova during her visit to the Maritime Management and Information Centre in Burgas on the 17th of September 2015.
The project, worth more than 32 million levs, has been completed in accordance with the ‘Information Systems for the Management of Maritime Traffic’ initiative, with 28 million levs provided through an operational programme for transport development. According to Ivaylo Ivanov, director of Port Infrastructure, the newly-installed system is not only much more effective at managing traffic, but also makes smuggling harder, improves communication between vessels and the coastal service, and allows for the electronic exchange of documents.
An observation tower, also part of the improvements, is in constant communication with other states along the Black sea coast, as well as with a similar set-up in the nearby sea port of Varna, to control and guide the movement of ships in Bulgarian waters, to collect information and to co-ordinate interventions where required.
Ms Paunova’s visit was part of the European Mobility Week (16-22 September), which is celebrated in Burgas with a series of events under the strapline ‘Your Turn, Clean Air!’.