Bosnia's EPBiH will begin preparations to build 450 MW unit at Tuzla TPP

EPBiH has received a letter of support for the project signed by the country's council of ministers, opening the way for the start of the long-planned investment, the company's executive director for capital investment, Senad Salkic, said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

The preparations for the construction of Tuzla's Unit 7 will be carried out by a Bosnian consortium of three civil engineering companies, including ITC Zenica, Prijedorputevi and Integral Inzinjering.

The consortium won a tender in July, offering a price of 18 million marka ($10.1 million/9.2 million euro) to relocate an existing transmission power line, level the ground of the construction site and build a sewage system, local media has reported.

The construction of Unit 7 will be then carried out by China's Gezhouba Group Company Limited and Gunagdong Electric Power Design Institute and will be financed by a China's Ex-Im Bank loan.

In August 2018, the government of Bosnia's Federation entity, which owns EPBiH, said it will provide a guarantee for the 614 million euro ($675 million) Ex-Im Bank loan, which will cover 85% of the total Unit 7 project cost.

The total cost of the project is 722 million euro.

Unit 7 is expected to produce 2,756 GWh of electricity per year.

At present, the Tuzla plant has an installed capacity of 732 MW, producing some 3,600 GWh of electricity on average per year and consuming 3.3 million tonnes of coal.

The Federation is one of two autonomous entities that form Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one is the Serb Republic.

(1 euro = 195583 marka)