SARAJEVO: The government of the Bosnian Croat Autonomous Federation announced on Thursday that it would not use equipment offered by Chinese partners to expand a coal-fired power plant.
The government has accepted utility company EPBiH’s proposal that Chinese equipment should not replace an initial plan to use General Electric contractors for the Tuzla plant expansion, the government said. government in a statement.
EPBiH’s deal with China Gezhouba Group and Guandong Electric Power Design to build a 450 megawatt (MW) unit in Tuzla at a cost of 1.8 billion Bosnian marks ($926 million) was delayed after the withdrawal of General Electric from the project in 2020.
“The summary of all findings (…) is that an alternate contractor has been rejected, and that the contract should be reset to the original configuration and its performance continue as agreed in 2014,” said the Minister of Industry and Energy of the Federation, Nermin Dzindic. .
If the contract cannot be fulfilled under these conditions, EPBiH must seek government approval to break the contract, the government said in a statement.
Dzindic said the government’s information and recommendations will be forwarded to the regional parliament to make the final decision on the project.
The European Union’s energy watchdog said last year that the Federation government’s guarantee for the Chinese loan of 1.2 billion Bosnian marks for the project constituted state aid and was illegal.
($1 = 1.943 Bosnian mark)