Montenegrin Ministry of Economy expects that it will get more offers for the construction of hydropower plants (HPPs) on the river Morača.

So far, several memorandums of understanding have been signed and the investors interested in the Morača HPPs construction project are from China, Turkey and Slovenia, the daily Vijesti reported.

One of the companies which proposed their bid is the Chinese company Norinco which has not been selected to build HPPs on the river Morača, but its technical bid was accepted as final, the representatives of the Ministry said. The Commission for the assessment of potential investors composed of the representatives of all the relevant institutions evaluated the technical bid the Chinese company Norinca offered and accepted it as final. The Montenegrin Government adopted the information provided by the Ministry about the Norinco’s offer to build five hydroelectric power plants in the main stream of the river Morača and one on each of its tributaries Mrtvica, Sjevernica and Mala Rijeka. The annual output of eight HPPs would be 894.82 GWh.

Another bid is proposed by the Turkish company Bereket Enerji. This offer includes the construction of four HPPs without any tributaries, according to the daily Vijesti, and the Turkish company is willing to negotiate the conceptual design.

The selection method of the investors for the project will depend on the total number of received offers which will be evaluated by a special commission. The commission will be formed by the Ministry of Economy and Finances to negotiate with investors about the financial and commercial terms for the Morača HPP.

The process of collecting and evaluating bids is still in progress and it is not possible to specify the manner in which it will be finalized or when the tender for the Morača HPP could be announced. After the Government and Parliament adopt the final version of the project, the next phase is the Detailed Spatial Plan (DSP) and Environmental Impact Assessment. Both documents will be available to the general public through public hearings.

Morača HPPs threat to environment and tourism?  

Although the representatives of the Ministry underline that the Government will respect the highest European standards in the field of energy and apply the best technical solutions while providing the best international practices in the field of environmental protection, numerous critics have been pointing to the upcoming Morača HPPs construction.

One of them comes from the Montenegrin Ecologists Society which claims that over 500 species could disappear from the location. Serbian Orthodox Church also expressed concerns because of well-known Morača monastery.