site.bta Regional Development Minister: Construction of Drinking Water Dams Resumes After 20-Year Break

Regional Development Minister: Construction of Drinking Water Dams Resumes After 20-Year Break

Sofia, December 9 (BTA) - The construction of dams for drinking
water resumes in Bulgaria after 20 years, Regional Development
Minister Liliyana Pavlova said here on Tuesday. She was speaking
during the signing of a contract for the construction of the
Plovdivtsi dam and potable water treatment plant.

Financing for the project is provided by the World Bank under a
long-term loan agreement.

Pavlova noted that nothing had been done about the project for
this dam for 30 years. The initial design started in 1982.

The project is valued at 47.4 million leva. Construction is
expected to start in 2015 and is due for completion 900 days
later, or in 2017.

The Plovdivtsi dam, which is located in Rudozem Municipality
(Southern Bulgaria), will fully cover the potable water needs of
Smolyan Region, thus providing constantly quality drinking
water to 400,000 people, the Minister noted.

Some 350 new jobs will be opened during the dam's construction,
followed by permanent jobs after its completion.

The dam's volume will be 2.4 million cu m, which is 60 times
more than the current capacity of the 67 smaller reservoirs on
the territory of Smolyan Municipality.

Pavlova said that the contractor was selected according to the
World Bank's rules through an open tender procedure from a short
list of companies. The next procedure will be for selecting a
contractor to build the Luda Yana dam which has an indicative
cost of 52 million leva. The indicative cost for the
rehabilitation of the Stoudena dam, another upcoming project, is
30 million leva. Financing of the projects comes from the World
Bank.