Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlovic stated in Dimitrovgrad that the works on the construction of the interconnector Nis-Dimitrovgrad will begin at the end of November.
“We are witnessing a global energy crisis that will end, but similar ones will exist in the decades ahead because all indicators show that both production and energy consumption will increase,” she said.
Mrs Mihajlovic highlighted that the most important aspect is to have enough heat, electricity and gas and for citizens to pay for energy at guaranteed prices.
“The most important thing is that our public companies were not ready for this crisis,” she added. “Srbijagas is negotiating a new contract with Gazprom, but it should have done that a long time ago, just as EPS should have planned the repairs better, not to mention that there has been no investment in new capacities for decades. We have prepared laws, a new investment plan and a program and we will implement them in order to be energy safe.”
She pointed out that the Nis-Dimitrovgrad gas pipeline is important due to the diversification of routes, but also gas suppliers.
“Serbia, together with the EU, provided 85 million euros and the works will last for about two years,” she said.
This interconnector will connect Serbia to Bulgaria which will help the country to get gas from other directions and from other suppliers, whether it will be through Azerbaijan or Israel and Cyprus.
