Construction of Nabucco gas pipeline connecting the Caspian region, Middle East and Egypt via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary with Austria, bypassing Russia will start as scheduled – in 2011. Spokesman for the Nabucco gas pipeline consortium Christian Dolezal deems that project implementation encounters no hurdles, RIA Novosti says.

In May 6 interview with CNBC, Dolezal said that major portion of costs for construction (70%) will be covered by financial institutions, while 30% — by consortium members. EU already extended a credit of €200m.

Potential gas suppliers are Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Iraq.

Estimated investment costs including financing costs for completely new pipeline system total to approximately €7.9 billion.

S.T.