Serbian Ministry of Mining and Energy said that the consortium which is building the Serbian section of gas interconnection with Bulgaria has informed that the completion deadline might be extended due to possible shortage of steel caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The statement from the Ministry said that, at the moment, no company is able to deliver needed amount of steel for the completion of the project.
The construction of 109 kilometers long Nis – Dimitrovgrad gas pipeline, with a capacity of 1.8 billion cubic meters of gas per year, started on 1 February. The deadline for the completion of the Serbian section of the pipeline is October 2023.
The total value of the Serbian part of the project is 85.5 million euros, of which 25 million is a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB), 49.6 million are grants from the IPA fund of the EU, and the remaining sum of some 11 million euros will be secured from Serbia’s budget and the funds of state-owned gas company Srbijagas.