Consortium of Strabag AG from Austria and Croatian company Končar – Power Plant and Electric Traction Engineering Inc. (Končar – Ket) started the design phase for the project of a dam and hydroelectric facility Vranduk in central Bosnia.

After the documentation is produced, equipment can be mounted and the construction works can commence, state television’s portal Federalna.ba reported. Strabag said no visible activity is possible for another half year, while the endeavour was initiated more than five years ago.

Government-controlled company Elektroprivreda Bosne i Hercegovine d. d. is the investor with BAM 22 million (EUR 11.24 million) of own funds, while the remainder in the EUR 63 million project is financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank.

Environmentalists and the local population have been opposing plans for the power plant, the report adds. The Vranduk community received a pledge for EUR 720,000 to be invested in 30 infrastructure objects in the surrounding area, before the environmental permit was issued. The people in the village itself say they got the least from the funds and that even the promised water supply system’s overhaul wasn’t done. The contractor says it plans to engage local firms for some segments of the works.