New coal digging system put in operation in Kostolac - investment worth 62m EUR

(Mirko Cvetković)

New BTO system worth 62m EUR, of which procurement was financed by the Electric Power Company of Serbia, was put in operation yesterday (May 26, 2009) at strip mine Drmno in Kostolac.

- The growth of production of overburden creates conditions for growth of coal exploitation, and that is why this investment is very significant. We should, also, point out that the realization of this project was made possible thanks to the funds of the Electric Power Company of Serbia (EPS), without additional debts and loans, and investments in Kolubara are in the pipeline - the Prime Minister of Republic of Serbia, Mirko Cvetković, explained.

The Prime Minister pointed out that EPS was one of the most significant companies of strategic importance to the state.

- We have announced three tenders related to power supply sector, which represent invitations for strategic partners to take part in construction of three power plants whose installed capacities amount to 1,800 MW. We are of the opinion that these tenders will help us find the strategic partners we can cooperate with on the project basis, but we must also preserve EPS as a state-owned company that should grow into the regional leader - said Mirko Cvetković who then put the new unit at strip mine Drmno in operation.

Dragomir Marković, the Director General of EPS, pointed out that the conditions had been created for increase in coal production from 9m to 12m tons of coal in the following period, which will enable construction of another block in Steam Power Plant Drmno.