House of Peoples of FBiH on Chinese loan for construction of Block 7 of Tuzla Thermal Power Plant

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The first regular session of the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament will be held today, which will also consider a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China exceeding one billion marks for the construction of Block 7 of the Tuzla Thermal Power Plant. The House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament approved the credit debt at the beginning of March. In the meantime, the European Union expressed dissatisfaction with this project. During the visit of European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, it was warned that BiH will have to pay huge amounts of money due to the emission of harmful CO2 into the air when using coal.

Without the support of the House of Peoples, the decision cannot come into effect.

Opinions on the construction of Block 7 are divided. While some claim that it will mean energy stability for BiH and contribute to cleaner air in the Tuzla Canton, others believe that the focus should have been on building wind farms or other methods of electricity production.

Denis Žiško from the Center for Ecology and Energy from Tuzla warned that BiH will likely have to pay penalties due to illegal subsidies for the loan for Block 7. Janez Kopač from the Energy Community also mentioned this when warning BiH parliamentarians not to adopt the document by which the Council for State Aid of BiH defined that the loan guarantee does not represent state aid. Žiško stated that there is also a possibility of a drastic increase in electricity prices in order to service the Chinese loan.

The Chinese loan is to be repaid within 20 years, with a five-year grace period.