The documented expenditures on the last "spurt" of construction on the site of the Belene nuclear power plant are about 600 million euro, Economy, Energy and Tourism Minister Traicho Traikov told journalists on Tuesday.

Traikov added that it was anybody's guess how much had been spent on this project since the 1980s. Asked who would be called to account for the outlays on the project which never really got off the ground, Traikov said that the authorities ought to find first that an offence had been committed and that the project ran aground.

He added that there were no specific investor intentions about the new plant, and did not commit to a deadline for giving an answer to the Russian proposal that construction should continue with Russian financing. "Nothing will be done without due consideration," Traikov said.

Regarding the option of merging the Nabucco and South Stream gas pipeline projects, Traikov said there are different interests and proposals and several lines of dialogue. "Everything is in the air until it becomes a fact," he commented.

Meeting with a Bulgarian parliamentary delegation to Moscow headed by National Assembly Chairperson Tsetska Tsacheva on Monday, Russian Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko said the schemes of funding the Belene nuclear power plant would be ready at corporate level by the end of April. Shmatko expressed confidence that a strategic investor would be found for the project.