Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlovic said that the works on the construction of the Nis-Dimitrovgrad gas pipeline, a Serbian section the Bulgaria-Serbia gas interconnector, would begin in late November.
Minister Mihajlovic pointed out that the NisDimitrovgrad gas pipeline is important for the diversification of the routes, but also the suppliers
of natural gas. Together with the EU, Serbia has secured 85 million euros and the works on its construction will take around two years. This
interconnector is important, because it links Serbia to Bulgaria and enables it to get gas supplies from other directions and other suppliers,
whether through Azerbaijan, or Israel and Cyprus, she concluded.
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 planned capacity of the Serbian section of gas pipeline is 1.8 billion cubic meters a year.
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.
