Bosnia’s Muslim-Croat federation has short-listed four groups, including an Austrian-led consortium and Czech company CEZ, to build four coal-fired power plants in a project worth about 1 billion euros, Dnevni Avaz newspaper reported.
Germany’s EnBW and Swiss-Kazakhstan group BMG/Kaztransgas were also selected, the daily yesterday quoted Vahid Heco, the federation’s energy and industry minister, as saying.
The scheme involves construction of the four coal-fired plants, with an estimated capacity of 2,000 megawatts, along with the expansion and reconstruction of two coal mines.
Austrian Power and Environment Technology GmbH (APET) was again selected after it was chosen last week to build four hydro-power plants with a total capacity of 200 MW, worth about 800 million euros.
APET is made up of Austria’s Alpine Mayreder Bau, Porr and Vatech, Germany’s Siemens and Voith, France’s Alstom and Finland’s Poyry.
Heco said the four companies have been chosen because they did not require co-ownership in the plants and mines with the federation’s power companies Elektroprivreda BiH and Elektroprivreda HZHB, which will carry out the project.
He said that the government has postponed the decision to kick off the project and the choice of the best candidate from the shortlist for 90 days because of its scale and complexity.
Preparations for the building of the four hydro-power plants are expected to be completed by next spring, when the tender for suppliers of equipment should be published and actual works begin, Heco said.
“This is a mega project and our power companies are not able to build (the plants) on their own. That is why we need a strategic partner for initial research,” Heco said.
(Reuters, 3/10/06)