The government of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Bosniak and Croat Federation has de facto halted the controversial Tuzla 7 coal plant project by saying it will not use equipment offered up by a Chinese company to expand the plant.
Utility company EPBiH proposed that the Chinese equipment should not be used to replace an original plan to use General Electric subcontractor for the extension of the Tuzla plant.
The original plan foresaw a deal between EPBiH and Gezhouba Group and Guandong Electric Power Design to build a unit with a capacity of 450MW at Tuzla with a cost of almost a billion dollars. The plan was delayed however, when in 2020, General Electric withdrew from the deal.
“The summary of all conclusions…is that an alternative subcontractor has been rejected, and that the contract should be reset to the original setup and its realisation continue as it was agreed back in 2014,” Energy Minister Nermin Dzindic said.
Considering that the original technology offered is no longer available due to GE’s withdrawal from the project, this effectively means a decision not to continue with Tuzla 7.
The government said that EPBiH must ask for government approval to formally break the contract.
Dzindic added that the matter would then be forwarded to the regional parliament who would make the final decision on the fate of the project.
Pippa Gallop of CEE Bankwatch Network told Exit, ‘This decision has taken far too long but is very welcome. The end of the unfortunate Tuzla 7 saga is now a matter of formalities and Bosnia and Herzegovina can finally move on to more environmentally and economically sound energy planning.’
Denis Žiško, Aarhus Centre in Bosnia and Herzegovina – ‘Bosnia and Herzegovina’s energy sector must now do an about-turn and take decarbonisation seriously. Our decision makers need to speed up sustainable renewables and energy efficiency like they mean it – we can no longer waste time on polluting and expensive projects.’
