Bulgaria will build two 400 kV power transmission lines connecting the country's coal-fired power plant Maritsa East 2 with substations in Plovdiv and Bourgas by the end of 2014, Economy Minister Traicho Traikov said on June 28 2011.

As much as 37.8 million euro of the financing will be provided by the Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund, operated by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), while the remainder will be funded by state-owned electricity utility National Electricity Company.

The agreement on the project financing was signed by Mikail Andonov, the newly-appointed head of the state-run power utility, and EBRD's nuclear safety department head Vince Novak. The project will provide for a reduction in electricity losses along the grid and also ensure secure supplies, Traikov said.

According to the agreement, the transmission lines linking Maritsa East 2 with the substations in Bourgas and Plovdiv will cost 32.4 million euro and 21.6 million euro, respectively.

EBRD set up the Kozloduy fund in 2001 to compensate the country for decommissioning four 440MW reactors at its sole nuclear power plant at Kozloduy. Bulgaria has so far contracted about 575 million euro worth of financing from the bank.

EBRD also agreed to grant an additional 34 million euro to the nuke plant to fund the decommissioning of the plant's first four reactors, which will go for the remuneration of 715 workers at Kozloduy and State Enterprise Radioactive Waste engaged in the procedure.