Agreement on Chinese loan for B3 unit construction within Kostolac thermal power plant by end-March

(Photo: te-ko.rs)

Assistant Energy Minister Dejan Trifunovic announced March 6th that an agreement with China's Exim Bank on a USD 715 million loan for the construction of the new unit B3 within Kostolac thermal power plant should be signed by the end of March, adding that the works were supposed to commence by the year's end.

Trifunovic told Tanjug news agency that the agreement also needed to be ratified in the Serbian parliament, which he said should be done by the end of summer to create conditions for the commencement of construction of the 350MW unit B3 by the year's end.

- This project is defined in our national energy strategy, and the unit B3 should be connected to the grid by 1 December 2019 at the latest - said Trifunovic.

He reminded that December 2012 saw the completion of the first phase of the project that included the revitalization of the B2 unit, adding that the B1 revitalization had commenced few days earlier.

As he epcified, the next things to do is to build a new desulfurization system, dock and a port.