BOURGAS-ALEXANDROUPOLIS
The international project company in charge of building and operating Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline will choose a financial consultant on October 16-17, Stefan Gounchev, board chairperson of the Bulgarian company partnering in the project, told Monitor newspaper on October 7. The Supervisory Board of Trans Balkan Pipeline BV will choose between four bidders: Societe Generale, Lazard, Citigroup and Calyon.
Previously Gounchev had warned that selection of a financial consultant might be delayed because the Russian partner of the Bourgas-Alexanderoupolis group had sided with Societe Generale as the preferred adviser, a move opposed by Bulgaria and Greece.

TWO MILLION
The Communications Regulation Commission (CRC) granted Bulgaria’s biggest mobile operator Mobiltel a new dialling code and two blocks of a million phone numbers each. The two million new numbers will start with the 988 and 989 prefixes. CRC will also allocate two million numbers for Mobiltel’s rivals, Globul and Vivatel, although neither has requested additional numbers.

STEEL NATIONALISATION
Nationalisation has been offered as the latest rescue alternative for Bulgaria’s debt-laden steel mill Kremikovtzi. Investment banker Pravin Banker’s action plan for Kremikovtzi sees the state as sole shareholder, safeguards it from European Union sanctions and curbs extended bankruptcy proceedings. The Government should seek a state-guaranteed loan of 350 million euro, with which to finance the mill’s environmental and investment programmes.

FLY EASILY
As a result of increasing demand, Easy Jet has launched flights from the northwest of England to Sofia. The new route will start operating on December 11 2008, with a frequency of three times a week from Manchester. Fares start at 29.99 pounds one way and 33.99 return. Easy Jet plans not only to establish contact with Sofia, but also to create a major regional hub for flights from Sofia to Athens, Bucharest and Chisinau, according to a statement on Cheapflights.co.uk.