site.btaGERB to Alert Prosecutor General about Tsankov Kamuk Hydropower Project

Varna, on the Black Sea, August 11 (BTA) - The GERB Parliamentary Group will submit an alert to Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov about the Tsankov Kamuk hydropower project, GERB MP Alexander Nenkov said here on Friday.

The alert is prompted by defects which have appeared just seven years after the completion of the project, and public money will have to be spent on remedying them, Deputy Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov said for his part. He recalled that Tsankov Kamuk was initially set to cost 440 million leva but the amount soared to nearly a billion in the end. Stankov noted that the Tsankov Kamuk hydroelectric power station is also money losing because it operates for not more than 50 days a year. In his words, the investment in the project will take at least 100 years to recoup.

Because of the defects in construction, enormous quantities of water now leak into the ground, the Deputy Minister said. He specified that the problem is being looked into by experts, after which the exact amount of money needed for the repair will become clear.

According to media reports, because of the repair the dam lake will have to be drained for two months.