March 6 (SeeNews) - Bosnia's Serb Republic prime minister Radovan Viskovic said the signing of the contract for the construction of the 160 MW hydro power plant (HPP) HE Dabar, in the southern Herzegovina region, has been delayed by a month due to the coronavirus outbreak in China, local media reported on Friday.
Viskovic announced the postponement on Thursday in the southern town of Trebinje where the plant will be located, without mentioning the name of the strategic partner chosen for the project, news portal Indikator.ba reported.
In January, Viskovic said that the strategic investor for the implementation and financing of the 600 million marka ($348 million/307 million euro) HE Dabar would be selected by the end of February.
Back then, he also said that the construction of the plant is expected to begin this year.
Indikator.ba recalled that two Chinese companies have submitted bids to implement the project - China Gezhouba Group and China International Water & Electric Corp, adding that according to earlier statements made by Viskovic the two bidders have reached an agreement to act together.
In January, Viskovic also said that more than 100 million marka have been invested so far in the project - in the construction of tunnels, access roads, power substations, water supply, and other activities.
In 2017, Bosnia's Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA) said that China's Dongfang Electric Corporation was also interested in the construction of HE Dabar.
The Serb Republic is one of the two autonomous entities that comprise Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other is the Federation.
(1 euro = 1.95583 marka)