The Anglo-Chinese consortium of the British company Scarborough Group International and the state-owned Chinese company China National Electric (CNEEC), has signed an agreement on the construction of a thermal power plant/heating plant in Loznica worth EUR 230 million.
According to the agreement, the construction of a facility with 240 MW of capacity will be fully put in charge of CNEEC, and the first phase of the project (120 MW) might start at the end of 2016, after the Government greenlights the project, and be completed by the end of 2018, the consortium announced.
The second phase (the remaining 120 MW) should start a year later.
The consortium has also received the financial support by the China Development Bank, and the Chinese insurance company Sinosure has also shown interest in participating in the project.
The aim of the project is to transform old fossil-fuel power plants into eco-facilities, and, as stated in the announcement, the project will bring numerous benefits to Serbia, among other things the employment of over 150 workers, a huge stimulus to the local economy, the strengthening of a strategic bond between China and Serbia, reducing the dependence on the import of electric energy and improving energy safety.
The project doesn’t require state guarantees, as this is a private investment of the Anglo-Chinese consortium together with the China Development Bank, the announcement clarifies.
– After several years of hard work, we are now very close to realizing the project. This wouldn’t be possible without the vision and the perseverance of the Chinese and the Serbian governments and hard work of their competent ministries and state-owned enterprises, the cooperation between the Chinese and the Serbian embassies, and, of course, the support by the mayor and the municipality of Loznica – stated the president of Scarborough, Kevin McCabe.
– These agreements are a turning point, as they open the door for even bigger cooperation between Serbia and Chine, especially with our partners, like Scarborough. In addition to that, CNEEC will work on improving the local economic growth and the development of clean energy in Serbia – stated the vice president of CNEEC, Liao Shengsong.
The British company Scarborough took over the Loznica project several years ago as part of the privatization process.
Kevin McCabe founded Scarborough in 1980. Today, it is one of the most active private real estate companies based in Britain and it realizes projects and owns and sells real estate throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.