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Report: Cost of Baltic gas pipeline soars by 1.8bn dollars
Apr 15, 2010, 11:29 GMT
Berlin - The cost of building a controversial gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea has soared, German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported Thursday.
The Nord Stream line from Russia to Germany will cost 8.8 billion euros (10.8 billion dollars) to lay, 1.4 billion more than budgeted, the newspaper said, quoting a written government answer to a parliamentary question by Germany's Greens party.
With much of the steel pipe already made, work on laying the 1,200-kilometre line officially began a week ago. Poland was angered that it would be bypassed by the line, and Scandinavian nations have worried at its environmental impact.
The newspaper said the government answer came from Jochen Homann, a state secretary in the Economics Ministry.
Nord Stream, a consortium set up by Russian gas monopoly Gazprom and German companies E.ON and BASF, had previously said the line would cost 7.4 billion euros.
The Sueddeutsche Zeitung said Nord Stream confirmed to it that the government data was correct, with a spokesman saying the new total was mainly to cover the higher interest rates payable in the midst of the world financial crisis.
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