site.btaEnergy Minister: There Is Investor Interest in Belene N-plant

Energy Minister: There Is Investor Interest in Belene N-plant

Sofia, July 15 (BTA) - "There is an interest in the Belene N-plant project but we are about to see the specific proposals," Energy Minister Temenouzhka Petkova said before journalist in Parliament on Friday.

Consensus will be sought among all political parties in order to find the best solution for the country after the decision of the Geneva Arbitration Court, said the Minister. An Arbitration Court in Geneva recently ordered Bulgaria to pay the Russian contractor for the project, AtomStroyExport, 550 million euro, representing the cost of the equipment ordered and built but not installed on the site of the plant. There are several options but non of them is final, Petkova noted.

One possibility is for the National Electric Company (NEK) to pay the amount and get the equipment, which, according to Petkova, is the most advantageous solution for Bulgaria. Another option is to sell the equipment jointly with AtomStroyExport to a third party. A third solution is to set up a separate company with the assets of the Belene N-plant and privatize it through the Privatization Agency. The latter version is the most economically advantageous because it does not entail any losses unlike the other ones.

Asked whether a team of the Ministry has visited AtomStroyExport to see what has actually been manufactured, Petkova replied that the Russian company has to provide a full list of the manufactured equipment on the request of NEK. "NEK experts will visit the Russian company to see what they actually have there," said Petkova adding that the Geneva court has taken its decision based on analyses and documents showing that one of the reactors is fully built and the other is about 90 per cent ready.