site.btaIndustrial and Commercial Bank of China Interested in Financing Project for Belene Nuclear Power Plant

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Interested in Financing Project for Belene Nuclear Power Plant

Sofia, December 14 (BTA) - The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has shown interest in financing a commercial project for the construction of the Belene nuclear power plant, the government's information service said Wednesday after a meeting of representatives of the bank and Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev and Energy Minister Temenouzhka Petkova.

Borissov mapped out the conditions of the Bulgarian government for going ahead with the Belene N-plant project: implementing it as a commercial undertaking, without investments from the State and without contracts on long-term purchase of the power that will be generated by the future plant.

The Chinese bank officials confirmed readiness to finance the project under these conditions.

The construction of the Belene N-plant was abandoned as financially unfeasible by GERB's first government in 2012, and Parliament voted to scrap the project early in 2013. In 2016, an arbitration dispute between Bulgaria's National Electric Company and Russia's AtomStroyExport was settled by ordering the Bulgarian company to pay 601.6 million euro for equipment made before the project was stopped. The money was paid on December 8.