Citigas Bulgaria, owned by Italy's Gruppo Società Gas Rimini, will invest 294 mln BGN in the Trakia gasification region project over the next decade, the company's managerial agent Alexander Kozhuharov said on Wednesday in the sidelines of the 7th Southeast Europe Economic Forum.
In February, Citigas won a 35-year permit to build gas network in the Trakia region.
Citigas has already raised the funding which will include 145 mln BGN worth of loans, 40 mln BGN of own capital and 109 mln BGN of reinvestments. Citigas will start building its distribution network from the municipalities of Plovdiv, Rodopi and Krichim, all in Southern Bulgaria. The first consumers are expected to be plugged into the gas distribution network in early 2006.

Company estimates put future industrial subscribers at 720 and household consumers at 105,000, with annual supplies to the former at 100 mln cu m and to the latter at 165 mln cu m. Some 1,800 km of pipelines will be installed.

Trakia is one of the eight districts into which Bulgaria’s territory has been zoned for the award of contracts to build networks for household and industrial use of natural gas. The Trakia region encompasses 39 municipalities, including five where gas licences have been awarded. The region is rich in industrial gas consumers but as much as 71% of the households don't have central heating. The only exceptions are the municipalities of Kazanlak and Plovdiv which have district heating companies.