Bosnian state-controlled brown coal mine operator RMU Banovici said
on Tuesday it expects to sign this year a deal with a strategic partner for the
construction and financing of the 350 MW Banovici thermal power plant (TPP)
project.
The construction of the TPP could start in the middle of next
year, RMU Banovici said in a statement.
During the next five years, RMU
Banovici plans to invest 120 million marka ($66.8 million/61.4 million euro) in
an increase in production and in initiatives related to the company's TPP and
cement plant projects, the statement said.
Last month, RMU Banovici said
it expects to complete by the end of September the final ranking of the
qualified bidders in the TPP tender. The talks with most of the potential
investors were completed during March and once the tender documents are
completed, which should happen by the end of April, all qualified bidders will
be invited to file their final technical and financial offers, RMU Banovici said
at the time.
Preliminary bids in the second stage of the tender were
filed by Shanghai Electric Group Company, China Gezhouba Group Company and
Dongfang Electric Corporation from China as well as by Spain’s Abengoa
SA&Electric International.
The estimated cost of the Banovici 1 TPP
project is 584 million euro ($639 million), the government of Bosnia's
Muslim-Croat Federation said earlier.
The company said in a separate
statement on Tuesday it plans to produce and sell this year 1.6 million t of
coal and to post a profit of 980,140 marka on revenues of 160.4 million
marka.
The mining company plans to invest a total of 52.2 million marka
this year alone.
RMU Banovici is one of the biggest coal mines in the
Federation, one of the two autonomous entities that form Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The other one is the Serb Republic.