The Sofia Mayor Boyko Borisov signed Friday a contract with the European Investment Bank under which the bank loans Sofia Municipality EUR 105 M for the construction of 6,35 km of subway lines.

This is the first loan that the EIB has ever lent to any Bulgarian municipality. Its repayment period is 25 years, preceded by a seven-year gratis period.

The loan will be used to co-finance a 2,2-km stretch of the first metro line - from the Mladost Quarter to the Tsarigradsko Shose Blvd, and a 4,15-km stretch of the second metro line - from the Nadezhda Quarter to the Obelya Quarter.

The Sofia Mayor Borisov said 1,8 km of metro lines would be opened in 2009. In his words, the Sofia Municipality was blazing a trail for the other Bulgarian municipalities because this loan was the cheapest money that a Bulgarian institution could get.

The present loan must be absorbed by November 30, 2013. It was awarded without any state guarantees, or other special conditions.