"The entire State backs the contractor of the Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnector to ensure completion of the project," Bulgarian caretaker Regional Development and Public Works Minister Ivan Shishkov said here on Monday. He addressed the opening of a meeting with the companies involved in the construction of the interconnector, which was intended to optimize and step up the completion procedures.
Shishkov said that the project must be completed the soonest possible because it is "of vital importance".
He said that various institutions have objections: the fire service, the irrigation system authority, the Environment Ministry, and all competent ministers have been informed and are working to address the problems.
The Minister said that some things remain to be finished on the project and any delay will be insignificant.
The Greece-Bulgaria interconnector links the natural gas transmission networks of the two neighbouring countries, providing access to the Southern Gas Corridor and a range of new gas sources. It will carry gas from Azerbaijan via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline and from other sources via a planned liquefied natural gas terminal at Alexandroupolis, Northern Greece. The gas pipeline is 182 km long, of which 151 km in Bulgaria and 31 km in Greece, with a design capacity of up to 3 billion cu m/year, which may be increased to 5 billion cu m/year if there is market demand. It runs from Komotini (Northeastern Greece) via Kurdjali, Haskovo and Dimitrovgrad to Stara Zagora (Southeastern Bulgaria).
A memorandum of understanding for the project was signed back in 2009, and a joint project company, ICGB, was registered in 2011. The initial plan was to commission the pipeline in December 2014.
When it will be ready
According to Teodora Georgieva, the Bulgarian Director of project company ICGB, the interconnector will be commissioned in September-October 2022. The construction work is yet to be certified as completed and commissionable by the national construction supervision authority.
After the meeting, Shishkov told reporters that he will have more clarity about when the interconnector will get a certificate on commissionability on Tuesday, when the investors are expected to submit a daily progress timetable with a final completion date.
An agreement was reached that the project be divided in two stages and to focus at the first stage on is essential for putting the interconnector into operation, the Minister said. He believes that this will make up for some of the delay and cut the period by two of three months.
Asked why the facility is not yet completed, Shishkov said the reason was "missed deadlines by the contractor". "I cannot say whether and to what extent the State is to blame, and whether control has been adequate," he added.
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