UPDATE: Consultancy sought to help award EUR 200 million HPP Dabar project

Hidroelektrana Dabar has launched an international tendering procedure to select a consultancy to provide it with legal, financial, and technical advisory services in the process of awarding a turnkey/engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for a 160 MW Dabar hydropower plant (HPP Dabar), according to acting general manager Željko Zubac.

Hidroelektrana Dabar, part of hydropower plant operator Hidroelektrane na Trebišnjici (HET), will launch a tendering procedure for the project to complete works on HPP Dabar in early September, Zubac told TrebinjeLive.info.

The consultancy deal is valued at an estimated BAM 2 million (about EUR 1 million) not including VAT or BAM 2.3 million (some EUR 1.17 million) including VAT, Capital has learned. The bid submission deadline is set at October 4.

Zubac recalled that the turnkey project, which would be governed by the public-private partnership (PPP) law, has attracted 19 expressions of interest (EOI), noting that the companies that submitted the EOIs include those from China, the U.S., Spain, Turkey, France, Italy, and the Czech Republic.

The estimated value of the project to build and finance HPP Dabar’s remaining facilities is around EUR 200 million, according to the text of the invitation of EOIs, posted earlier by HET, a subsidiary of Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske (ERS), the power utility of Republika Srpska, the Serb entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Under the preferred financial model, Hidroelektrana Dabar’s future project partner would secure a loan to cover at least 85% of the project cost against a guarantee from the Republika Srpska government. The loan would be repaid in cash or electricity over 15 years, following a 4-year grace period. The interest rate would be at around 3%, according to the text of the invitation.

Hidroelektrana Dabar, which would cover the rest of the project cost from own sources, would own 100% of the 160 MW hydropower plant on the Trebišnjica river. The company has already completed preparatory works for the project, which has so far soaked about BAM 80 million (some EUR 41 million) in investment.

The 160 MW plant, part of a wider Gornji Horizonti hydropower project, would boost HET’s power production by about 50%.