The cabinet has decided to provide state guarantees for the EUR 600mn loan, which the European Investment Bank and Eurotom will extend to the National Electricity Company (NEC) for the construction of the nuclear plant in Belene. In May, NEC signed a contract with the French BNP Paribas for syndicating a five-year EUR 250mn bridge loan for engineering, equipment supply and construction works during the first year of the project. The project for building the power plant in Belene is valued at EUR 4bn. Russia ’s AtomStroyExport in partnership with France 's Areva and Germany 's Siemens has signed a contract for building ground infrastructure, supply of equipment, installation and commissioning of the two power reactors. The selection of a strategic investor and the final assignment with the Russian contractor are expected by the end of this year. The Czech electricity company CEZ, Germany ’s E.ON and RWE, Belgium ’s Electrabel, and Italy ’s Enel have filed initial offers for 49% of the company set to administer construction works and operate the 2,000MW nuclear plant. The first unit should start operations in 2014.