site.btaForeign Companies Interested in Acquiring Unfinished Belene Nuclear Plant

Foreign Companies Interested in Acquiring Unfinished Belene Nuclear Plant

Sofia, July 22 (BTA) - Several foreign companies have stated their intent to privatize the unfinished Belene Nuclear Power Plant in Bulgaria, Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev said on Friday. "It is hard to say how serious their interest is," Donchev said, speaking to journalists in the National Assembly lobby.

He noted: "This is not very surprising, because, after all, few other nuclear projects in the world are so advanced in terms of readiness: equipment has been manufactured for it and the grounds are basically ready."

But Donchev added that expressions of interest do not count for much until someone actually submits a bid in a privatization procedure. "What matters more is whether the project has market potential. If a privatization procedure draws one, two or three candidates and they make price bids, the people who claimed that this was arguably the most lucrative project in the world will be proven right," he said.

Concerning Bulgaria's talks with Iran about selling Belene's Russian-made equipment, Donchev said the sides have not yet discussed a price for the equipment, but have only considered the possibility of such a deal. "There will certainly be a meeting, perhaps next month. It will probably be a trilateral meeting, because the manufacturer cannot be left out of the talks," he said.

The Deputy Prime Minister continued: "From a purely technical perspective, the parameters of the Belene reactors cannot be an issue in the talks with Iran, because they were made according to the highest standards. They were made for Europe. Any nuclear facility that was made for Europe is more expensive, more elaborate, and the safety standards are more rigorous."

He believes it is a good thing that Bulgaria has a choice: it can either find an investor to finish the plant at his own expense, or it can try to resell what is available. "Both options will be pursued simultaneously and the outcome will depend on which one proves more beneficial," Donchev said.

Energy Minister Temenouzhka Petkova confirmed that potential investors are interested in privatizing the unfinished Belene Nuclear Power Plant. "I cannot comment further on that, because everything is still at a very early stage," Petkova added in remarks to journalists.

She said one of the options is to take the plant's "assets, grounds, and liabilities" and put them into a separate commercial corporation which will be proposed for private ownership through the Privatization Agency. "Any decision will be coordinated with the Russian side," she said.

Speaking during question time in the National Assembly earlier in the day, Energy Minister Petkova said that a new investigation is underway in connection with possible malpractices affecting the Belene project. "Everything is in the hands of the prosecution service," Petkova said. She was responding to an MP's question about a recent decision of the International Court of Arbitration requiring Bulgaria's National Electricity Company (NEK) to pay 550 million euro to Russia's Atomstroyexport for the equipment produced for Belene.

Petkova recalled that the Public Financial Inspection Agency conducted a series of checks between 2009 and 2013 in connection with the Belene project, targeting the NEK, the Bulgarian Energy Holding and the former Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism. The inspectors looked into how the funding available for Belene was used. They uncovered a number of very grave wrongdoings in the public procurement procedures and with respect to budgetary discipline, the minister said.

The inspectors found that a November 2008 NEK order to Atomstroyexport to supply equipment for Belene that takes a long time to manufacture was placed by the two NEK executive directors without endorsement by the NEK Board of Directors. For other far less serious steps, the directors had sought permission from the Board, Petkova noted. The supply order, known as Annex 5, was signed without a valid written agreement on engineering, supply and construction, but it set a price for the equipment, at 673 million euro, and an advance payment of 84 million euro was effected immediately. This eventually made the arbitration irreversible in that part, the Energy Minister said.

She put the end price of the Belene N-Plant project at 10,045,000,000 leva (5,136,000,000 euro), based on documents available to the NEK and the Energy Ministry and the bidding procedure for selecting a strategic investor. "This amount of money was not available in 2006 and it is not available now. The state and the NEK cannot afford to make such an investment," she said. Therefore, she added, the assets should be sold to a private investor who can finish the project.

Her remarks came in response to a call by Vassil Antonov MP (BSP-Left Bulgaria), who said Belene should be finished by Bulgaria and the country "should not sell out its sovereignty."