Zivkovic dismisses claims about potential arbitration due to block B3 in Kostolac

The director of Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), Dusan Zivkovic, today dismissed the claims that Serbia was facing arbitration due to delays in the construction of block B3.

When asked by the Danas daily to either confirm or deny this information, published by the NIN weekly, Zivkovic emphasized that such claim had no real basis, although he didn’t unequivocally deny them either.

– This has no real weight – said Zivkovic.

Let us remind that NIN recently reported that China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), which built block B3 in Kostolac, planned to seek international arbitration against Serbia due to excessive delays.

The sources of Danas also believe that there could be an arbitration, and there are speculations that CMEC might request a penalty of as much as USD 795 million due to the exceeding of the four-year deadline for the completion of the project. This means that EPS would have to pay for the penalties more than for the construction itself of the first electrical energy capacity in the past 30 years.

On the other hand, the state’s argument is that EPS has been majorly damaged due to the fact that the thermal power plant has not been completed on time, because, due to the lack of electricity, last summer, hundreds of millions of euros were spent for the import of electricity at high prices.

Elektroprivreda Srbije ad Beograd

Predstavništvo Preduzeća China Machinery Engineering Corporation Beograd

Elektroprivreda Srbije

EPS

China Machinery Engineering Corporation

CMEC

Dušan Živković

TPP Kostolac

B3 Kostolac