Bosnia's EPBiH Shortlists 7 for Hydropower Bid

Bosnia's top power utility EPBiH has shortlisted seven firms out of 12 bidders to help build a 20 megawatt (MW) hydropower plant on the Bosna river, it said on Thursday.

The candidates are China's Dongfang Electric Corp and China International Water & Electric Corp, as well as Austrian construction firm Strabag in a consortium with a unit of Croatian engineering group Koncar .

Rounding out the list are two Turkish companies, a consortium led by Slovenian builder RIKO, as well as Italian builder Cooperativa Muratori & Cementisti.

EPBiH also extended by a month to Nov. 11 a deadline for submission of final bids for the 75 million euro ($95 million) project that will help it improve its mix of energy supplies and add 96.4 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity a year.

It said the deadline was pushed back after a request from potential partners and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and European Investment Bank (EIB), which will co-finance the project.

The EBRD and EIB have extended 26 million euros and 37.5 million euros in loans for the project, respectively, with EPBiH financing the remainder.

Bosnia generates 40 percent of its electricity from hydropower and the rest from coal-fired plants, making it one of the few countries in the Balkans able to export electricity.

EPBiH, the largest of Bosnia's three power utilities, operates two coal-fired plants and three hydropower plants, with combined capacity of 1,165 MW and 517 MW, respectively.

Reporting by Maja Zuvela