Chinese company to build heating pipeline in Belgrade

A memorandum of understanding on the construction of a heating pipeline from a power plant in Obrenovac to New Belgrade was signed at a ceremony in Belgrade city hall with Mayor Siniša Mali saying that the project would bring annual savings of EUR 40 million once completed. The memorandum to build the pipeline from the Nikola Tesla thermal power plant (TENT) to New Belgrade was signed with the Power Construction Corporation of China.

Mining and Energy minister Aleksandar Antić, who signed the memorandum with Mali and representatives of the Serbian power company, Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) and Belgrade district heating company, Beogradske elektrane (BE), recalled that the project to build that very pipeline was started more than 20 years ago but was discontinued for no apparent reason even though pipes had been laid.

The memorandum is an umbrella agreement which is to be followed with agreement reached on concrete details, Antić said and voiced the expectation that the work will begin next year and will be completed by the year 2020.

Mali said the EUR 200 million project is very important both because it brings annual savings of about EUR 43 million or about one third of the EUR 140 million which the Belgrade district heating company spends for gas imports.

Through the pipeline the hot water from the power plant TENT in Obrenovac will be transported to the heating plants in New Belgrade.

He said the project pays for itself within five to six years and lowers the country’s dependence on gas imports and price fluctuations on the world market.

The project also changes the economic prospects of the city in the sense of energy savings and is part of the bigger picture titled energy efficiency in Belgrade, the Mayor said.

Mali said offers for the construction of waste processing facilities and the production of electricity and heat at the Vinča landfill will be received by July 6.