September 2 (SeeNews) - State-owned gas transmission system operator Bulgartransgaz said that it has launched a tender for construction and commissioning of a pipeline to the town of Svishtov, in northern Bulgaria.
Bulgartransgaz will finance the contract with part of the proceeds from a grant from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the company said in a statement on Friday.
The construction of the new gas transmission pipeline will create conditions and prerequisites for gas supply to industrial consumers and public administration consumers in the region, as well as for domestic gas supply to the municipalities of Svishtov, Belene and others, the company said.
The tender procedure will be carried out in accordance with the rules and policies of the EBRD.
Earlier this year, the EBRD said that Bulgartransgaz will receive a 10.9 million euro ($12 million) grant from the Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund (KIDSF) to partially finance the construction of three gas pipelines with automatic regulation stations - one to Svishtov, one to Panagiurishte and Pirdop, in the country's west, as well as one to Razlog and Bansko, in the southwest. The total estimated value of the project is 21.8 million euro.
The KIDSF finances or co-finances projects related to the decommissioning of four units of Bulgaria's sole nuclear power plant Kozloduy, which were closed down to address the nuclear safety concerns of the European Union prior to the country's accession to the bloc in 2007.
($ = 0.9113 euro)