European Bank for Reconstruction, Development says Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline construction project feasible

Chisinau, 14 January /MOLDPRES/- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has found that the project on the construction of Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline is feasible. The announcement was made by Deputy Prime Minister, acting Economics Minister Stephane Bride during a cabinet meeting today.

According to EBRD experts, the total cost of the project accounts for approximately 83.7 million euros, without taking into consideration compression stations. “After the feasibility study is translated into the state language, public consultations will be held for 120 days,” Bride said.  

A trilateral meeting is expected to be held between the Moldovan and Romanian governments, as well as the EBRD and European Investment Bank (EIB) next week. Simultaneously, a technical project will also be carried out, so that construction works could start in 2016, as previously planned.

Acting Prime Minister Gheorghe Brega said the pipeline should have a 600-diameter size, unlike the 500-diameter option foreseen in the feasibility study, in order to exclude compression stations and enhance the pipeline’s capacity up to 2.5 billion cubic meters per year.

An amount of 70-100 million euros must be spent in order to expand the 100-km-long Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline up to Chisinau. The European Union will allot 10 million euros of the total sum. The money will be partially sent by financing EU institutions, such as EBRD and EIB, via installments. 

The 300-million-lei spending for the construction of Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline, provided in the state budget for 2015, were cut down as expertise and design works had not been finalized.

(Reporter V. Bercu, Editor A. Raileanu)