The idea of the construction of a gas interconnection for the purpose of the diversification of the routes and the sources of gas has existed for nearly three decades, and the agreement on the construction of the Nis-Dimitrovgrad gas pipeline was signed back in 2010.
The financial agreement for the project of the construction of the gas interconnector between Serbia and Bulgaria has been signed by the Serbian Minister of Finance Sinisa Mali and the Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Lilyana Pavlova.
The total value of the project, according to the estimate of the EIB, amounts to 85.5 million euros, of which the EIB will provide 25 million euros as loans, 49.6 million euros representing grants from the EU IPA funds, while the rest is to be covered by Serbian state and state-owned gas company Srbijagas. The construction is expected to start in late 2021, and the planned capacity of the Serbian section of gas pipeline is 1.8 billion cubic meters a year. The plan is for it to become operational by 2023. The realization of the project secures the diversification of the routes and the sources of gas supply, which also means a higher security of the supply of Serbia and the region and the further development of the distributive gas network in Central, East and South Serbia.
