Page 26 - bne_newspaper_May_24_2019

Weekly Lists
May 24, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 26
bne:
Infrastructure
Bulgaria starts building gas link that will end dependence on Russian imports
Italy’s Astaldi relaunches talks to sell stake in Istanbul bridge
The long-delayed construction of the €220mn Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (ICGB) was launched on May 22, just a week after the project company developing the link has picked Greece’s J&P AVAX to execute the project, the government in Sofia said in a statement.
The interconnector will help diversify natural gas sources for Bulgaria, which at present mainly depends on Russian gas.
It will have a length of 182 km, of which 151 km will be on Bulgarian territory. Its capacity is planned to be 3bn cubic metres. Bulgaria and Greece signed a delayed final investment decision on building the interconnector in December 2015.
Italy’s Astaldi has relaunched talks to sell its 33.35% stake in Tur- key’s Third Bosphorus Bridge, Reuters reported sources as saying.
The sources, however, did not name any potential buyers.
In September last year, the Italian firm said that political turmoil in Turkey and a plunge in the country’s currency had led to a delay in receiving offers for the stake. But in November it announced that
a non-binding offer from fellow Italian company and construction firm Salini Impregilo was received.
Astaldi was hoping to sell the stake in the bridge — also known as the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and one of the tallest bridges in the world — to strengthen its liquidity and cut debt.
Russian and Iranian officials met in Tehran on May 22 to discuss the formation of a joint railway company as part of the planned International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), according to Mehr News Agency.
Those planning the 7,200-kilometre, multimodal INSTC see India connected to northern Europe via a corridor running through Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia with direct sea routes from western India to Iran’s only oceanic port, Chabahar on the Sea of Oman, crucial to the project’s success. Rail routes running from Iran and through Azerbaijan to Moscow would also be fundamental to INSTC.
Russia, Iran to form joint railway company as part of INSTC transit corridor development