SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), July 14 (SeeNews) – The government of Bosnia's Federation said it has given its consent to the energy ministry to issue an energy permit to state-controlled coal miner Banovici [SAJ:RMUBR] for the construction of a 350 MW thermal power plant (TPP).
The decision is now pending approval by the Federation's parliament, the government said on Thursday following its weekly session.
The TPP has a planned annual production of 2,252.3 GWh of electricity.
Last month, local media reported that the TPP's construction should begin by the end of the year. Banovici is reportedly closing a loan deal with a consortium of Chinese banks led by the Industrial and Comercial Bank of China (ICBC).
The construction works are expected to take 40 months, and if they run according to schedule Banovici TPP should be in operation in 2021.
In 2016, Banovici said it is due to sign a construction deal with China's Dongfang Electric Corporation on the project's implementation.
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.