BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 21. The remaining funds for the implementation of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) project have been utilized in full recently, Teodora Georgieva, Executive Officer of ICGB, the pipeline operator, said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
"The total cost of the project is EUR 253 million – secured through investment by the shareholders, a loan from the European Investment Bank, funds under the European energy programme for recovery and Operational Program "Innovations and Competitiveness" (OPIC 2014-2020)," she said.
Georgieva pointed out that all funds were utilized in tranches, each received after careful evaluation and independent audits to ensure ICGB had implemented all works on the pipeline according to the highest standards in the industry.
"Although this process is rather slow and quite administratively heavy, it introduced another level of transparency and control to our work and helped us introduce full compliance to national and European legislation as well. We received the last remaining tranche for the project just last month - EUR 22.1 million under the EEPR," she added.
The IGB gas pipeline connects with the Greek national gas transmission system (DESFA S.A.) and the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline (TAP AG) in the area of Komotini (Greece), and with the Bulgarian gas transmission system (Bulgartransgaz EAD) in the area of Stara Zagora. The total length of the gas pipeline is 182 km, the diameter of the pipe - 32'' - and a design capacity of up to 3 billion m3/year in the direction Greece - Bulgaria. The gas pipeline enables the transportation of natural gas from new sources to other countries in the region as well, including Moldova and Ukraine.
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