SOFIA (Bulgaria), October 13 (SeeNews) – Sofia City Council (SCC) has approved a proposal under which a private investor will finance 51% of the cost of a new subway station in the northwestern outskirts of the Bulgarian capital where it intends to develop a major residential project, SCC chairman Elen Gerdzhikov said on Friday.
The total cost of the construction of the new station is projected at 24 million levs ($14.5 million/12.3 million euro), Gerdzhikov said in an interview for public TV broadcaster BNT.
By entering into partnership with the city government for the construction of the new subway station the investor aims to increase real estate prices in the region which is now sparsely populated, according to Gerdzhikov.
According to a separate report by BNT, posted on the website of the TV station on Wednesday, the unnamed investor in the project is an 'American fund'.
The city government will finance the remainder of the cost of the project and will be 100% owner of the station, which will be situated right next to the international railway line linking Sofia to the Serbian capital Belgrade. The Bulgarian transport ministry is planning to build a railway station there, which underlines the new subway station’s strategic importance, Gerdzhikov said.
The construction of the future railway station is expected to begin in 2019 and will be coordinated with the construction of the subway station, BNT said.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)