Bulgaria's Finance Engineering, majority controlled by U.S. Traders International, plans to build a 130.4 megawatt gas-fired power plant in the southern town of Haskovo, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

Genadi Tabakov said the company would invest 250 million leva ($163.8 million) in the plant and planned to have it operational at the end of 2011.

At a later stage, the company plans to build a second 130 megawatt unit at the same site in Haskovo, some 240 km southeast of Sofia and near the borders with Greece and Turkey.

"We need to get building and environmental permissions, as well as a 35-year licence for power generation. We hope to start the construction in the middle of 2010," he told Reuters.

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