Ports granted at concession for 99 years Bulgarian ports may be granted at concession for a period of 99 years, said the Minister of Transport Ivaylo Moskovski during conference "Strategic infrastructure investments in Bulgaria related to Europe 2016". On April 15 the new European Directive on concessions enters into force, which will be applied in the country with a new law, with introduction in the National Assembly. The future law will significantly expand its scope of action, the current maximum concession period of 35 years, will be eliminated. This will enable ports, airports, highways, railways and other infrastructure, public state and municipal property, to be awarded for 99 years. The terms of the concessions in the future will be able to compare the type, scope and volume of each particular site, which will allow for more flexible relations between the state and concessionaires to achieve mutually beneficial conditions and effective cooperation, said Transport Minister. One of the first sites that will be granted at concession under the new law will be the ports of Vidin-south and Rousse-west, whose preparation is in the advanced stage. In the second half of the year will start preparing for the concession of the port of Varna, preparations for the concession and Port Rousse East is underway as well.
Source: Standart (31.03.2016)

Bulgaria, Slovakia Agree to Work for Building Eastring Gas Pipeline Bulgaria and Slovakia have signed an agreement for future gas supplies to the Balkan country via the proposed Eastring pipeline. Under the memorandum of understanding signed by the respective gas pipeline operators of the two countries, Bulgartransgaz and Eustream, in Sofia on Thursday the two companies will work jointly to provide EU financing for the project as well as test market interest in the pipeline. Eastring had been proposed by Slovakia after the suspension of the South Stream project, which would have brought Russian gas to Europe via a pipeline under the Black Sea coming ashore in Bulgaria. The proposed pipeline is among the priority projects for financing under the European Commission investment plan for Europe. The pipeline would link Slovakia with the Balkans and existing gas pipelines in Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania to the planned Balkan gas hub near Bulgaria’s Black Sea port of Varna. The project will give a boost to Bulgaria's objective to become a regional gas hub in the Balkans, which could help the country reduce its almost total dependence on imports of Russian gas via a single transit pipeline crossing Ukraine. Bulgaria’s Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova and Slovakia’s Economy Minister Peter Ziga attended the signing of the MoU which took place on the sidelines of the 14th Gas Infrastructure Europe Annual Conference in Sofia organised by Bulgartransgaz.
Source: actualno.com (10.06.2016)