May 21 (SeeNews) - Serbia plans to complete the construction of a natural gas pipeline from the border with Bulgaria to the border with Hungary by December 18, energy minister Aleksandar Antic said on Tuesday.
"The project is very complicated from a technical point of view; we work under strict deadlines and plan to complete it by December 18 which requires a large commitment of the Serbian civil engineering industry," Antic said in a video file posted on the website of Serbian public broadcaster RTS.
Russia's Gazprom plans to build a string of its Turk Stream pipeline for the transit of natural gas to Europe from Turkey via Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary. The future pipeline on the territory of Serbia, approximately 400 km in length, will link the country's natural gas transmission system to those of Bulgaria and Hungary.
Serbia has already received 40 to 50 percent of the 180,000 tonnes of steel pipes needed for the construction of the pipeline and deliveries continue at the Danube river ports of Novi Sad and Smederevo.
"A large part of the pipes have already been deployed to the construction sites," Antic said.
The construction of the 403 km-long pipeline is divided into four sections and building permits have been issued for two of them, Antic added.
In Serbia, the project is carried out by Novi Sad-based Gastrans, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swiss-based South Stream Serbia, according to data from Serbia's commercial register. Gazprom owns a 51% stake in South Stream Serbia, while state-owned Srbijagas holds the remaining 49%, according to Gazprom data.
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