In Stanari near Doboj, a stone was laid yesterday as the foundation for the construction of thermal power plant “Stanari”.
The worth of the construction of “Stanari”, which will be completed by 2015, was assessed to be more than 400 million euros.
The ceremony was attended by the President of the RS Milorad Dodik, Prime Minister Željka Cvijanović, President of the RS National Assembly Igor Radojičić, representatives of energy companies from Europe an China, and Elektroprivreda BiH and neighboring countries.
President Dodik told RTRS that the project is very important. He said that the construction of a highway Banja Luka-Doboj would be soon made official, and on 30 may the first oil exploration in the RS will begin in the area of municipality Obudovac.
The RS Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining Željko Kovačević told Radion RS that the construction of “Stanari” is of the utmost importance for the development of the economy of the RS and is one of the biggest energy projects in the RS.
“The construction of ‘Stanari’ will enable employment, stabilize electric supply, and higher revenue in the RS budget’’, said the Minister.
The main contractor is the Chinese company “Dongfang”, and “Stanari” is the first power station of its kind that is being built in the former Yugoslavia after more than three decades. It will be one of the biggest investments in the energy sector in BiH where “EFT Group” will invest around 400 million euros, and China will approve 150 million euros for this project.
“Stanari” will be designed to produce annually around 2 million-megawatt hours of electricity. It will be the first in BiH that will fully operate in accordance with the directives of the EU on environmental protection. At the same time, “EFT” is investing in the modernization of mines for about 150 million euros in order to reach the production necessary for the normal functioning of the power plant.
Currently, there are 470 people employed in the mine and power plant, and there are more domestic companies as subcontractors of the main contractor of “Dongfang Electric”, which has a deadline for construction of 45 months.
Since 2005 until now, “EFT” has, based on the concessions in the mine in the RS budget and Doboj city, paid more than 30 million euros.
It is expected that the benefits from the functioning of the plant will be substantially higher.
