SOFIA, December 7. /TASS/. No European rules were violated in the tender for the construction of the South Stream project, Dimitr Gogov, Bulgarian executive director of South Stream Bulgaria, said on Sunday.
“There were no violations of European rules,” he said in an interview with the BTV television channel. “The South Stream project is very good and might have been beneficial for Bulgaria. You can take my word for that.”
At the same time, he noted that there had not yet been any official notification of the project suspension. “There is no official notification from the Russian stakeholder of South Stream Bulgaria that it withdraws from the project. Our company has received no such calls. If the company is to be wind up, it must be done at the shareholder level. We learn all news about the South Stream from television,” Gogov said.
Touching on possible financial losses for Bulgaria, Gogov said his country would lose nothing because no work would be done. “The financial model of the project was worked out with a backup from acclaimed global financial experts. According to this model, the payback period of investments into the gas pipeline is ten to twelve years. The company was to ensure the transit of 63 billion cubic metres of gas and be paid for that 448 million euro within one year. These are revenues not the company’s net profit. In case the agreement id terminated, Bulgaria will lose nothing, because it has done nothing as of yet. You will not have incomes just because you are doing nothing. Obviously, companies and individuals hoped for incomes in the process of the construction of the gas pipeline via Bulgaria. These works were expected to involve more than 5,000 people who were to be paid wages under the standards of a big infrastructure project,” he said, adding that the project was to involve 95 subcontractors.
Apart from that, he said the pipes meant to be used in the construction were owned by South Stream Transport and his country received payment for keeping them on its territory.