July 18 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's BDZ Passengers, part of state-owned railway company BDZ Holding, will receive financing of up to 100 million levs ($59.4 million/51.1 million euro) for the acquisition of new rolling stock in 2020, the government said on Wednesday.
The government said in a statement it approved the investment financing project.
Earlier this month, the government decided to extend 103.7 million levs of reimbursable aid to BDZ Holding to help the company repay outstanding debt to bondholders. BDZ will use the aid to cover outstanding obligations on its 120 million euro bond, which was due last year.
On July 5, Bulgaria opened a tender for awarding a 35-year concession contract for the operation of Sofia International Airport, worth an estimated 3.9 billion euro ($4.6 billion). Bulgaria's transport minister Ivaylo Moskovski has stated on several occasions that the country intends to use part of the proceeds from the concession to finance indebted BDZ Holding and its units.
In May, BDZ Passengers opened a 51.7 million levs tender for repair of 227 passenger railcars.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)