Chinese Investor 'Eyes Bulgaria's Railways'

A Chinese company is willing to invest more than BGN 300 M into Bulgaria to build a locomotives factory, caretaker Prime Minister Ognyan Gerdzhikov has said.

The investor is ready to cover the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ)'s debt worth hundreds of millions, and to pay off BGN 260 M of it, the Bulgarian National Radio quotes Gerdzhikov as saying.

The head of goverment has made it clear he is ready to travel to China over the project, despite having decided not to embark on foreign visits during his interim tenure.

His words came as he and twenty-six other diplomats traveled to the Cherepish monastery with on a retro train - an event seeking to promote special travels offered by the BDZ to tourists.

The Chinese CRRC Corporation, a rolling stock manufacturer with an annual turnover of USD 45 B a year, intends on producing locomotives and rail cars that would be sold beyond Bulgaria.

Dnevnik.bg quotes interim Transport Minister Hristo Aleksiev as saying the investor is expected to send a letter of intent over the next fortnight.

Bulgaria has spent years pondering how to pay the BDZ's debt and has even explored the possibility to use funding from a prospective concession of Sofia Airport. 

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