The price offers in the open procedure for the “Selection of a consultant for construction supervision for construction of gas interconnector Greece-Bulgaria” are to be publicly opened today
On April 2nd 2019 the European Commission (EC) officially approved the allocation of EUR 33 mln. from the EU budget for the construction of Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria.
The funds will be allocated under the Operational Program “Innovation and Competitiveness” (OPIC) 2014-2020, with a total grant amount of EUR 39 million. EUR 33.15 million (85%) of the funding is provided by The European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) and the remaining EUR 5.85 (15%) are national co-financing.
This is a long-awaited event by the Project Company ICGB, as the application process took more than a year in view of the need for amending the Operational Program “Innovation and Competitiveness” 2014-2020 and the inclusion of the IGB Project as an eligible beneficiary for ESIF funding.
ICGB’s Executive Officer from Bulgarian side Teodora Georgieva said that the approved grant is key for the realization of the pipeline and another proof of the importance of the project. The allocated funding is the result of long and consistent work of the ICGB team and the support of the Bulgarian Government. Georgieva expressed the company’s gratitude for the cooperation and the efforts by the Managing Authority of the Operational Program “Innovation and Competitiveness”, the Ministry of Energy, the European Commission and the team of the Project Company.
The price offers in the open procedure for the “Selection of a consultant for construction supervision for construction of gas interconnector Greece-Bulgaria” are to be publicly opened today.
This is the last of the key public procurement procedures related to the construction of the IGB pipeline. The contractor is expected to be announced in mid-April. ICGB is working actively on finalizing the latest important procedures before starting construction works in June.
The IGB Project (Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria) is being implemented by the joint venture company ICGB AD, registered in Bulgaria in 2011, with shareholders BEH EAD (50%) and IGI Poseidon (50%). The co-shareholder IGI Poseidon is a company, registered in Greece, with shareholders being the Greek public gas corporation DEPA SA (50%) and the Italian energy group Edison SpA (50%).
In accordance with its Statute, ICGB AD will be the owner of the IGB gas pipeline and will finance its realization, will allocate its capacity and will receive the revenue from the transportation of natural gas.
The IGB gas pipeline will be connected with the Greek national gas transmission system in the area of Komotini and with the Bulgarian national gas transmission system in the area of Stara Zagora. The planned length of the pipeline is 182 km, the pipeline diameter will be 32” and the projected capacity will be up to 3 bcm/y in the direction from Greece to Bulgaria. Depending on the interest from the market and the capacities of the neighboring gas transmission systems, the pipeline is designed for increasing its capacity up to 5 bcm/y for following up the market evolution thus allowing physical reverse flow (from Bulgaria to Greece) with the additional installation of a compressor station. A Memorandum for cooperation between ICGB AD and TAP AG has been signed concerning joint actions in relation to future connection between the IGB pipeline and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.
