The preparation of "Hemus" highway begins under the Operational Programme "Transport" funding. The contract for the grant was signed by the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Danail Papazov, and the executive director of the National Company "Strategic Infrastructure Projects", Assen Antonov. The project already has a prepared and approved application form.

The total amount of the approved grant is 5 246 000 lv., of which 4,197,120 lv. are allocated from the Cohesion Fund of the European Union and the rest 1,049,280 are national co-financing.

The project is funded under Priority Axis 2 "Development of road infrastructure along the Trans-European and major national transport axes" and includes the following activities:

• Conducting feasibility studies - until March 2014;

• Preparation of a conceptual project - until April 2015;

• Preparation of EIA report - by October 2014;

• Preparation of a report of preliminary archaeological researches - to October 2014.