Bulgaria has delayed the completion of the EUR102.5-million sale of a power plant to Greece’s Public Power Corporation until April 10, the privatization agency said on Thursday.
This is the third delay to the sale of the 630-megawatt coal-fired plant, which has been postponed due to environmental concerns and coal-purchase disagreements. “The privatization agency has extended the deadline for signing a contract with PPC by another two months,” said Veneta Nacheva, privatization agency spokeswoman.
The Greek investor has argued the plant’s quota for carbon dioxide emissions will not allow it to use local coal at the levels the new European Union member Bulgaria stipulates as part of the deal.
The plant is situated near Bobov Dol mines in western Bulgaria, where 2,700 miners have protested against the potentially heavy layoffs if PPC is not obliged to buy the coal they produce.
The Greek company filed the best bid to buy the plant in May of 2005, but the previous government cancelled the tender saying the price was too low. PPC later overturned the cancellation in court and talks resumed in July.
(Reuters, 08/02/2007)