German, US consortium gives up Kosovo power project
Germany's company EnBW has stated that it is no longer interested in building a thermo-electric power plant in Kosovo, despite the fact that it had participated in a tender together with the U.S. company WGI.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Tuesday, August 11, 2009
EnBW is the second company to pull out after Germany's RWE ended its bid last month, moves that could risk the flow of badly needed foreign investment into the province plagued by power shortages.
"Both, EnBW and our partner, have recently completed a review of investment opportunities and strategies and have\ reprioritized foreign markets and projects," EnBW told Reuters.
The Kosovo government said it had not yet received official notification from the EnBW and has no current plans to open a new tender.
EnBW and WGI's decision came a month after the government set up new rules for construction of the power plant asking investors to finish construction in two phases rather than the one phase that was part of the initial tender in 2006.
"The Kosovo side did not manage the process properly," said Mimoza Kusari, the director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo. "This is not a good signal not only for this project but for the whole foreign investments here."
Media in Kosovo have also criticized the government for delaying the project -- which began in 2006 -- at a time when the the province badly needs foreign investment to boost an economy reliant on foreign aid.
The province of Kosovo, which boasts a population of two million people, has
around 14 billion tons of lignite and is plagued by power shortages.
Two existing older coal-fired plants, Kosovo A and Kosovo B, are in poor condition and cannot produce the 1,000 MW that Kosovo needs. The Kosovo A plant falls short of existing environmental standards and will be closed by 2015.
