Infrastructure

TRANSPORT NETWORKS 

The geographical position of Vidin Region in the utmost northwestern part of Bulgaria, its situation on two state boundaries – with the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Romania, and its border with the Danube River to the Southeast assigns it an important place in the national and European transport network. 
Transport system is represented by well-developed road network, water, and railway transport and has the potential to develop air transport. 
Corridors N:4 - Dresden–Prague–Vienna/ Bratislava - Budapest-Craiova-Vidin-Montana –Vratsa-Sofia-Thessalonica/Istanbul and N:7 - the Danube River (Reign–Iein-Danube). This makes the opportunities for development of intermodal transport and strengthening the region positions as transport and logistic center very good. 
http://www.danubebridge2.com 

Road Network 

Road E-79, which is part of Transeuropean corridor N:4, connecting Southeast with Central Europe, connects through the region territory (Romanian border – Vidin Ferryboat – ring road Vidin- Dimovo – Ruzhintsi – Montana – Vratsa – ring road Sofia – ring road Blagoevgrad – Greek border) and is of prior internal and international importance. 
The main priority of improving transport infrastructure is the modernization and full reconstruction of the section "Vidin - Botevgrad" of E-79 (by building a high-speed route) in order its integration with the trans-European transport network. 
The bridge over the Danube River at Vidin- Calafat which connects Vidin in Bulgaria and Calafat in Romania was officially opened in June 2013. By construction of this infrastructure facility the transport network of Bulgaria substantially opens and integrates in the European transport networks.The project is part of the Pan- European transport corridor ¹4 and is of a key significance for the whole southeastern transport axis of Europe and the trans-European transport network with the opportunities for combined transport and transfer of certain volumes of traffic from road to railway. 
The total length of the road part of the bridge is 1391 meters and the railway - 1791 m. The facility includes two lanes in each direction, single electrified railway line and cycle lane. 

Other more important roads servicing the region are: 
1. Second class road II – 11 (ring road Vidin - Dimovo) - Simeonovo - Botevo - Archar - Lom – ring road Kozloduy - Oryahovo - Gigen - Brest - Gulyantsi - (Debovo - Nikopol), connecting the towns along the Danube; 
2. Second class II – 12 ring road Vidin - Inovo - Bregovo – Serbian border; 
3. Second class road II – 14 ring road Vidin - Kula – Vrashka chuka – Serbian border. 

The republican road network on Vidin Region territory managed by Regional Road Administration is 615,170 km long, of which 73,50 km – Ist class, 91,00 km – IInd class, 443,40 km – 3rd class and 7,27 km are road connections. 
As for 31.12.2015, 198,85 km of the Republican roads in the region are in good condition, 239,80 km are in satisfactory, and 176,52 km are in bad condition. 31,10 km of the IInd class roads are in bad condition as well as 145,42 km of IIIrd class roads. 
The republican road network density in the region is 0,202 km/sq.km, while the average for the country it is 0,174 km/sq.km. 

Port Network 

The position of populated places in Vidin Region along the Danubian bank suggests opportunities for direct connections with the neighboring countries from the Danube basin, as Vidin is the first Bulgarian town along this river. 
Port "Vidin" is located along the right river bank, in the section between km 781.500 and km 791.300. 
Port of Vidin is the first major port for the Bulgarian section of the river. It is included in the list of ports for public transport of national importance under the Law on maritime spaces, inland waterways and ports of the Republic of Bulgaria. It features a relatively well developed infrastructure - rail, road and waterway connections. 
Port Vidin consists of 3 separate territorial terminals: 
Port Terminal "North" situated between river 793.500 km. and 793.700 km. It is connected to the Republican road and railway infrastructure. 
Port Terminal "Center" - located in the central part of the city from river km 789.900 to km 791.300. 
Port Terminal "South" – located in South Industrial Zone from river km 785 to km 785.200 and covers 48 000 square meters area. 
In the region of Vidin function ports, managed by private companies as well: 
• Oil terminal of "OMV Bulgaria" LTD. 
• Port "Danube dredging fleet" JSC. 
There are nonfunctioning ports along the Danube river, at the villages of Vruv, Novo selo and Archar. 

Airport Vidin 

Airport Vidin was built in 1973 as citizen airport at 6 km away from Vidin with 2080m length and 38m width of the landing strip. At the moment it is not functioning. The adjoining infrastructure and airport equipment are in comparatively good condition as they are serious assets for its future reconstruction. 

Railroad network 

The railway infrastructure in the region of Vidin is managed by the State Enterprise "National Company" Railway Infrastructure ". Rail transport is carried out by subsidiaries of BDZ PLC: 
• "BDZ - Passenger Transport" Ltd. - passenger 
• "BDZ - Freight services" Ltd. - cargo. 
Vidin Region is connected to the national railway network by 87km of railway line, part of basic railway road ¹7. Railway line Sofia – Vidin is single railway line, put into operation in 1923, completely electrified since 1988. It services directly the Municipalities of Ruzhintsi, Dimovo, Makresh, Gramada, and Vidin. Belogradchik, Bregovo, Boynitsa, Kula, Novo Selo and Chuprene municipalities are without direct railroad transport to the regional center and the country. 
In Vidin - Sofia railway section there are 13 railway stations, stops and division posts. 
On the bridge over the Danube River at Vidin – Calafat, two international fast trains pass in the direction Sofia - Vidin - Budapest. The launch of direct trains through the Danube Bridge 2 to Central Europe has launched full capacity utilization of the combined road and rail facility. The construction of a railroad that serves the population and domestic and international cargo traffic through the implementation of the project "Modernization of the railway line Vidin - Sofia", with a total indicative value of around 1.6 billion. Euros. The project will also provide integration with the European railway networks. 

WATER SUPPLY AND SEWERAGE SYSTEM 

Vidin Region disposes of relatively well organized water supply network with total length 1725 km. The region is relatively well supplied with drinking water, but the water supply system requires too much energy. 
The water supply is carried out through pumps, gravitation and mixed, whereas 16% of the supplied water is supplied through gravity, and 84% through pumps. Great quantity of the drinking water for Vidin Region is ensured by underground water as there are surface water sources for Chuprene municipality. 
The water-supply network, which is maintained by "Water Supply and Canalization" PLC - Vidin has been constructed since 1938 up to now. The life - time of the bigger part of the system has expired and it is already strongly amortized, which leads to a lot of damages as it needs modernization and renovation. 
In October 2015 "Rehabilitation of water supply network, reconstruction and extension of sewerage network of Vidin" (Water Cycle) was put into operation. The final stage of the water cycle project of Vidin is the imminent execution of his second phase of the project- "Building a treatment plant for waste water." 

In October 2019, the new waste water treatment plant of Vidin was opened with an official ceremony in Vidin. The project "Complete construction of a wastewater treatment plant - Vidin - Second phase" is one of the largest projects implemented in the Municipality under the Operational Program "Environment 2014-2020", priority axis 1 "Waters". Its total value is 19,505,984 BGN, of which 580,415 BGN is self-financing. The grants are provided by the Cohesion Fund of the European Union and the state budget of the Republic of Bulgaria. The treatment plant contributes to the improvement of the ecological environment, the hygienic conditions in the city and the quality of the waters of the Danube River. It processes waste water with an average daily flow rate of 1440 cubic meters per day, which makes 1440 liters per hour. A technology is applied, which, in addition to mechanical, also includes biological water purification." With the construction of the water treatment plant, employment for 14 people is ensured.

ELECTRIC ENERGY NETWORKS 

Electric supply in Vidin Region entirely depends on the electric energy network of the Republic of Bulgaria. The electric energy network in Vidin Region is maintained by "CHEZ Electro Bulgaria" JSC. 
Enterprises producing electrical energy are: Hydroelectric Power Plant cascade Gorni Lom, comprising of Hydroelectric Power Plant "Kitka", "Gorni Lom", "Midzhur", "Falkovets", "Rabisha"- Makresh Municipality, "Flash", "Burzi Vir", "MEGA1", "Manastirska"- Chuprene Municipality. Generally, the electricity produced from coals is typical for the electric energy industry in Vidin Region. 
Regional Administration Vidin undertook inquiry on the potential industrial and household needs of gas supply in the region and the possibilities of gasification of the region. The optimization of power supply and introducing renewable sources of energy are among the region’s development priorities.