The construction of the 2,000 MW nuclear power plant in the Danube town of Belene will continue after the selection of a strategic investor, economy and energy minister Traycho Traykov said. The statement implied that the government had rejected the proposed financing from Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom worth EUR 350-450mn this year and EUR 1-1.5bn next year, which was to be repaid at a later stage by the selected strategic investor. At the end of March, state-run Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) said that six companies had submitted expressions of interest to consult the plant construction project and expected to select a winner and sign a contract by mid-June. The consultant is to prepare a project development plan and also update its financial aspect. Afterwards, it should prepare a procedure for investor selection. In February 2008, Russian AtomStroyExport (part of Rosatom) signed a EUR 4bn contract to build the plant, but later estimated that the construction and the launch of the two units will cost up to EUR 6bn.