Vucic, Radev launch work on gas inter-connector

Tanjug / Strahinja Aćimović

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic attended the start of construction of the Bulgarian side of gas inter-connector linking the two countries with his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev on Wednesday.

“An important day for Serbia, Bulgaria and the entire region. We continue linking the two countries, two people and our economies,” Vucic said in an Instagram post.

“Today we make another big step in providing: energy diversification, energy security and a cleaner environment… Serbia will have a greater choice as it will be less dependent on its current sources by having an additional source. Transitions and modernization need investments. This is another EU investment providing for both in Serbia,” said EU Ambassador to Serbia Emanuele Giaufret who attended the launch event.

According to Vucic, the gas inter-connector will bring greater energy security and opportunities for new investments. “We also discussed other planned projects,” he added.

The inter-connector will start operating in mid-2023 linking both countries to the Southern Stream. The link is 170 kilometers long linking Novi Iskar outside the Bulgarian capital Sofia with the southern Serbian city of Nis. It has a capacity of 1.8 billion cubic meters a year and was built with an investment estimated by the European Investment Bank at 85.5 billion Euro including an EIB loan of 25 million, European Union IPA Fund grant of 49.6 million and the rest covered by the Serbian budget and the national gas supplier Srbijagas. The contract to build the inter-connector was signed in 2010 with construction beginning in February 2022.