While energy minister Rumen Ovcharov negotiated in Moscow on Bulgaria's gas supply contract with Russia, back in Sofia, the only 2 offers for the completion of the nuclear power plant in Belene, on the Danube, were submitted by companies controlled by the Russian gas monopoly.

Russia's AtomStroyExport and the Skoda Alliance tie-ins unloaded on Wednesday 206 containers with a total of 3.5 tons of paperwork containing their proposals for the completion of the Belene NPP, prompting the tender committee to announce that a winner in the procedure can be named no sooner than 6 months.

Regardless of the selected contractor, it will be controlled by Gazprom which owns the consortium-leading Skoda JS via a subsidiary bank.

This turn of events was predetermined by the decision of the previous government to hire a vendor for 2 Russian-designed VVER reactors.

The filed offers contain details about the construction of the nuclear power plant, the supply of nuclear fuel, the recycling of the spent fuel as well as proposals for the financing of the project and estimates for the price of the electricity output.

The Bulgarian government has not yet decided on the ownership structure of the new NPP or what stake it will control in the company.

The Belene project was suspended in the early 1990s due to cost overruns and environmental concerns. By the time the building of the 1,000MW Soviet-designed plant was put on hold, some 40% of construction works worth $1.0 bln had already been finished, including the delivery of a Skoda reactor. The estimated cost of completing the plant is seen anywhere between 1.5 and 4 bln euro.

The construction of the NPP at Belene was seen as an opportunity to ease Bulgaria's dependence on Russian energy resources but the progress of the tender procedure points in the opposite direction.

Ovcharov is in Moscow for talks with Gazprom which demanded a revision of the contract for the transit of Russian gas via Bulgarian territory. The Russian company has requested to discontinue the gas deliveries that the Bulgarian side is paid instead of transit charges.

Bulgaria opposes any changes to the agreement before it expires in 2010 but is ready to negotiate the development of bilateral relations after that date as well as Russian investment in the local energy sector.

Statements made by Ovcharov's counterpart Viktor Hristenko suggest that the Russian side will insist that the next gas supply contract to have a 20-year validity and that the negotiations commence immediately.(Dnevnik)

Turkish joint venture Mapa-Cengiz has been ranked first in a tender for the construction of Bulgaria's Lyulin highway after it came up with the lowest bid, 137.4 mln euro, participants in the tender told Dnevnik.

According to unofficial information, five candidates have been shortlisted. They will have to be approved by the European Commission delegation in Sofia, after which the list will be sent for review to Brussels. No deadline has been set for the finalisation of the procedure.

Speaking on October 26, the last day when bids were accepted, then executive director of Road Executive Agency Veliko Zhelev said the construction contract would be awarded in the spring. His successor Veselin Georgiev could not be reached on Wednesday and the agency declined to comment.

The pattern with similar EU-funded projects shows that Brussels contracts the candidate which offers the lowest implementation cost even if it is apparently unrealistic. The tender winners are usually foreign companies which later hire local subcontractors. They then try to stall the project's implementation for various reasons, meanwhile seeking extra funding from different ministries.

The tender for the Lyulin highway was called on June 16, and the deadline for submission of bids was October 11. It was later extended to October 26 in response to keen interest from potential contractors. A total of 74 companies bought tender papers. Tie-in Limak Eko tendered the lowest bid, 119 mln euro, followed by Mapa Cengiz with 137.4 mln euro. However, Limak Eko, together with a dozen other candidates, were subsequently disqualified for paperwork irregularities.

The Lyulin highway is a 19 km section of Corridor IV that will provide a link between the Sofia Ring Road and the E-79 and E871 highways at Daskalovo junction near the town of Pernik. It will consist of 2 lanes in each direction with a central reservation and emergency hard shoulders. It will be constructed to a design speed of 100-110 km/h and maximum cross fall of 5%. The project will comprise the construction of significant number of main structures including: bridges, tunnels, overpasses, etc.

The project cost is estimated at 148.45 mln euro, of which the EU's ISPA program will grant 111.38 mln euro and the remaining 25% will come from the state budget. (Dnevnik)

Italian construction materials company Metecno will build a factory for industrial panels in Pleven, Northern Bulgaria, said Pepa Vasileva, the PRO of the Pleven municipality.

The initial investment is estimated at 8-9 mln euro.

The factory will be constructed on the site of Eterna 2000 AD, a manufacturer of Eternit panels and prefabricated metal systems.

The Bulgarian company will contribute to the project 2.2 ha of land and a production hall.

A joint venture company, Metecno-Eterna, will be registered over the next couple of months, said Eterna manager Tanyo Topalov. The joint venture will be majority-owned by the Italian company.

The new factory, which will manufacture sandwich panels from polyurethane, steel wool and sheet metal, should be operational by the end of November. The bulk of the output, estimated at 2 mln panels annually, will be exported. (Dnevnik)

Three local environmentalist organisations have proposed an alternative to Super Borovets, a project that aims to develop this mountain resort located 72 km south-east of Sofia into a major skiing destination.

Non-governmental organisations Za Zemiata and Eco Rila and the Bulgarian Association for Alternative Tourism have studied the opportunities for alternative tourism that could be developed in the resort and the surrounding alpine area.

The eco activists pointed out that the Super Borovets project will entail substantial deforestation and will have a detrimental impact on the environment.

Instead of the construction-intensive development, the eco activists have proposed to encourage adventure tourism and rural tourism in the villages around Samokov. The area already boasts the necessary human and natural resources to develop these types of year-round tourism, said Eco Rila chairman Vladimir Topchiiski.

The Super Borovets project goes overboard in the direction of skiers on the backdrop of forecasts for shorter and shorter skiing seasons, said Tsveta Hristova from Za Zemiata.

The Super Borovets project was conceived 2 years ago. The Rila Samokov 2004 company was specially incorporated to implement the initiative but after the assassination last year of banker Emil Kyulev, a key promoter and financier of the project, disagreements between the shareholders have held off the start of construction.

Rila Samokov 2004 is co-owned by Contract 99 (51%), a Kyulev company now passed on to his wife Vesela Kyuleva, construction company Glavbolgarstroy (16%), the Samokov municipality (25%) and Energokomplekt (7%).

The Samokov municipality has demanded more executive powers within Rila Samokov 2004, especially when it comes to property transactions.

The shareholders are due to meet in mid-February to try to work out their differences.

The environmentalists said they have uncovered irregularities in the registration of Rila Samokov 2004 and will notify them to the court authorities. (Dnevnik)

Allianz Bulgaria Holding posted a profit of 50 mln levs last year, matching its 2004 performance, executive director Dimiter Zhelev said on Wednesday, February 1.

The company said its assets grew by over 45% last year, to reach 1.48 bln levs. Its client base comprises 1 mln individuals and 250 000 companies, Zhelev said.

Allianz Bulgaria Holding consists of 2 general insurance companies, a life insurer, a pension fund and a bank.

As much as 40% of the group profit was generated by insurer Energia. That company's premium income added up to 47 mln levs, 17% up over 2004.

The other insurer in the group, Allianz Bulgaria, reported a profit of 15 mln levs, unchanged from the previous year. Half of the income came from motor insurance. Net premium income totaled 133 mln levs, a rise by 19% from the previous year. The company paid out claims the total amount of 55 mln levs.

Commercial bank Allianz Bulgaria pocketed a net profit of 7.1 mln levs in 2005. Its assets stood at 709 mln levs, up 65% from 2004. The bank's credit portfolio amounted to 229 mln levs, of which household credits amounted to 101 mln levs and mortgages totaled 79 mln levs.

Life insurer Allianz Bulgaria Life saw profit slip to 4.6 mln levs in 2005. Revenues rose 32% to 37 mln levs. The company holds a market share of 25%.

Pension insurance company Allianz manages 776 000 accounts worth 387 mln levs. Its profit for last year edged up to 2.8 mln levs from 2.2 mln levs in 2004.(Dnevnik)

The consortium of France's Bull, Siveko SA and Macabi Health Care Services has won the software contract tendered by Bulgaria's National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), health care minister Radoslav Gaidarski said on Wednesday, February 1.

The contract has not been signed yet.

The project for the installation and testing of an integrated information system that will link the NHIF with all providers of medical care is co-financed by the World Bank funded under the $68.9 mln loan facility in support of the Bulgarian health sector.

The other participants in the public procurement procedure, launched in January 2005, said they learned about the outcome from the media. Some of them said they may contest the procedure in court.

Bull has offered to implement the project for 3.5 mln euro, the lowest price tabled by any of the candidates.

The field included Greece's Intracom, HP, Siemens Business Services, Oracle and IBM.

This is the second time that the bids have been graded. The first ranking, compiled by the previous government, was topped by HP with an offer that was more expensive than that of the Bull-led tie-in. The contract with HP was ultimately not signed due to objections on the part of the World Bank.(Dnevnik)