SARAJEVO, December 20 (FENA) – Elektroprivreda BiH, after negotiations with the Chinese contractor, has returned the entire advance of 247,942,571 KM, following the termination of the Contract for the construction of Block 7 at the Tuzla Thermal Power Plant.

Although there has been great public interest regarding the status of the Block 7 project, the management of Elektroprivreda BiH stated that, in order to conduct negotiations efficiently and protect the company’s interests, they are cautiously approaching the dissemination of information to the public. In the meantime, conditions have been met to communicate the results of the negotiations so far and to prevent misinformation.

They remind that the Contract for engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) for Block 7 – 450 MW at the Tuzla Thermal Power Plant, worth over 1.4 billion KM, was concluded in August 2014 with Chinese contractors China Gezhouba Group Company Ltd. and China Energy Engineering Group Guangdong Electric Power Design Institute Co. Ltd.

In June 2020, Elektroprivreda BiH paid the contractor an advance of 247,942,571 KM. However, in August 2020, the contractor informed Elektroprivreda BiH of the alleged inability to fulfill the contract due to the failure to obtain equipment from the key equipment supplier, General Electric.

Since the contractor failed to meet its contractual obligations by January 2023 and did not offer an alternative solution that would meet the agreed conditions, the previous management of Elektroprivreda BiH, with the consent of the previous Government of the Federation of BiH, issued three warnings to the contractor before terminating the contract. The last, third warning before contract termination was sent in July 2023, with a 90-day deadline for the contractor to fulfill its obligations.

After several months of negotiations, Elektroprivreda BiH successfully returned the entire advance of 247,942,571 KM from the contractor.