Bulgarian state railways to get 24M leva state aid

Bulgarian Government will give 24 million leva from the Transport Ministry budget to increase the capital of state railways BDZ, the Cabinet decided on January 20.
BDZ executive director Pencho Popov said the funds have been earmarked for paying off state-guaranteed loans, but would not elaborate.

According to Dnevnik, last year, the carrier rescheduled for 2010 a combined 35 million leva debts to five banks, including 20 million leva borrowed from Germany’s KfW to purchase 25 Siemens diesel trains contracted by the Saxe-Coburg cabinet.
In 2009, the Ministry of Finance allocated 18 million leva for the payment of state-guaranteed loans to the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The funds will back a rescue plan to be implemented at the company, Deputy Transport Minister Kamen Kichev said. He said that there would be talks to form a strategic partnership with Deutsche Bahn in cargo transportation.
The Bulgarian government will draw up a restructuring strategy for the debt-ridden state carrier, with privatisation possibly one of the options, he said.

Source: Transport Weekly