Serbia, EIB sign agreement on funding of €85.5mn gas interconnector with Bulgaria

Serbia’s government has signed a financial agreement on the construction of the gas interconnector with the European Investment Bank (EIB), eKapija reported on May 20.

The estimated value of the investment is €85.5mn, and it will be financed from EU pre-accession funds and a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB), while the remaining funds have been secured by Serbia and Serbian company Srbijagas.

The EIB will secure a €25mn loan for the project, while €49.6mn will be provided as a grant from the EU’s IPA funds.

In March, Serbia called a tender for the construction of the Nis-Dimitrovgrad interconnector in the Serbian territory.

Serbia expects to complete the construction of the gas interconnection with Bulgaria by the beginning of 2023.

The interconnector is one of the priority projects of the High Level Group on Energy Connectivity in Central and Southeast Europe (CESEC), established by the European Union (EU) in 2015 to facilitate the swift completion of cross-border and trans-European projects that diversify gas supplies to the region.