The FYROM government is under pressure to confirm the privatization of its heavy oil-fired thermal power plant, TEC Negotino.
More than two months have passes since Skopje approved on August 1 a 61.7 million euro bid by a consortium of Turkey’s Unit Investement, Bulgaria’s Finance Engineering, Canada’s Hatch Acres and UK-based Mott Mac Donald for the 210-MW thermal power plant, but a deal has yet to materialize.
Surprisingly, neither the government nor its economic minister Vera Rafajlovska who is responsible for signing th esale contract, have yet formally revealed a reason for the delay.
One of the reasons for the delay put forward by Rafajlovska is that a squeaky-clean tender procedure should be followed after the ruling in August of the Paris Arbitration Court against FYROM in a dispute with Greece’s Hellenic Petroleum over the privatization of the Skopje-based OKTA refinery. Obviously these memories have been refreshed after the second –ranked bidder, SENCAP- a joint venture between Greece’s Public Power Corp and the US-based ContourGlobal-expressed its displeasure with the fact that the government ignored its financially superior bid for the power plant.
Local sources told Platts that given the country’s antagonistic relationship with Greece, and fears of Greek dominance of the country’s energy sector , many within official circles in Skopje would prefer closer ties with a consortium that has Bulgarian participation.