November 27 (SeeNews) - Serbia's government has said it expects state-owned power utility Beogradske elektrane to cut annual costs by 45 million euro ($53.7 million) after it builds a 28 km-long heat pipeline with Chinese financing.
Beogradske elektrane will be able to repay the 200 million euro loan extended by the Chinese government for the construction of the heat pipeline through the costs saved, the government quoted energy minister Aleksandar Antic as saying in a press release on Sunday.
The 28 km pipeline will enable Beogradske elektrane to use steam generated at the Termoelektrane Nikola Tesla (TENT) power plant for production of electricity at the Novi Beograd thermal power plant instead of imported natural gas, Antic said.
Last week, Serbia's prime minister Ana Brnabic said she will sign a contract for the construction of the heat pipeline with the Chinese government on November 27, during the sixth summit of heads of government of Central and Eastern European countries and China in Budapest, Hungary.
In June, the Belgrade city government announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Powerchina to build the heat pipeline.
($ = 0.837793 euro)