The construction project of Thermoblock 7, as the largest post-war investment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, could already be labeled a failed investment. The project was officially started in 2006, and the value was 722 million euros.
Over the years, there have been many negotiations and agreements with Austrian, German, Swiss and Japanese companies, as well as exits of certain companies from the project, and in 2014, a contract was signed with a Chinese consortium.
Significant funds have already been spent, and given that what has been started will not be finished, the authorities must find an alternative as soon as possible.
“As for Termoblok 7, it is definite that it will not be built. “Now the question is whether we will go to arbitration or whether we will reach an agreement with those with whom the contract was signed,” said Nermin Nikšić, prime minister of the FBIH.
The head of the Club of representatives of Our Party in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Parliament spoke about the construction of Thermoblock 7 in Tuzla and said that the project is over.
Cudic emphasized that the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina accepted the proposal of Elektroprivreda not to accept alternative subcontractors of key equipment for the construction of Thermoblock 7 in Tuzla. This concludes the story of the construction of Thermoblock 7.
“The construction of Thermoblock 7 is over. We warned about this possibility back in 2019, when the Parliament of the FBiH approved this project. The Club of Our Party did not support it then because we demanded that everything be harmonized with the recommendations of the Energy Community, which warned of irregularities in the plan of its implementation,” said Cudic.
She emphasized that last year they requested the termination of the contract when the Chinese partners could not fulfill some of the contractual conditions.
“If we had done it then, we could have returned the funds paid in advance in the amount of 220 million BAM. That did not happen and now we will lose that money. In addition to the loss of money, the consequences will be negative for the entire energy sector, and the citizens of the Tuzla Canton will especially feel it because nothing has been done on the existing thermoblocks in order to reduce the pollution they create,” said Cudic.
Environmentalists welcome the shutdown of Block 7, others stressed that it is a bad move towards the Chinese
She explained that the guarantee that both the state and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina gave to the Chinese Export-Import Bank for a loan for the construction of Thermoblock 7 represents illegal state aid.
“This was also recognized by the BiH Council for State Aid, which originally gave the disputed guarantee. This further strengthens my belief that all the listed negative consequences will occur. Based on that decision, the FBiH Government must terminate the guarantee and return 47 million BAM In addition to all of the above, 30 million BAM was irretrievably spent on preparatory works. The FBiH Government is directly responsible for everything, especially its Prime Minister Fadil Novalic as well as the line minister Nermin Djindic. The culprit is also Elektroprivreda BiH as well as the bodies that supervise its work, especially director Admir Andelija,” the representative points out.
Finally, she clarified that these people must be held accountable for their actions.
“At the time of the greatest energy and financial crisis, we lost both energy and finances. We did not build Termoblock 7, we did not restore the other thermoblocks, and for this purpose, close to 300 million BAM were wasted. At the time of the greatest health crisis, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the same that government spent 10 million BAM on defective respirators. Now Novalic’s incompetence is paying for us again. It’s high time that the Prosecutor’s Office joins the story. Someone must answer for the missing 300 million BAM. We should literally feel fear if another crisis happens this government will throw tens and hundreds of millions of our money into the wind by falsely trying to solve it. After the election, they must no longer be able to do that,” concluded Sabina Cudic.
