MPs must know what Kosovo benefits from building new thermal power plant

It says: Gazmend A KASI

From the post-war to now the largest investment in Kosovo continues to remain IPKO, which was introduced in 2007 on the Kosovo market.

The value of investments at Thermocentral Plant “New Kosovo and Re” of 1 billion and 300m euros makes me think and am convinced that its implementation will continue vigorously.

As part of the Government, but as an individual, I appreciate that building the thermocentral plant “New Kosovo”, with a capacity of 500 megawatt hours of electricity should not stop for itself the fact that as a state, but also as a people we have lost millions of euros paying for electricity imports.

The project, but also the contract for New Kosovo, is transparent, even the Haradinaj Government is the first government in the country to have published such a large contract, which has not even happened with highway projects that way.

The Social Democrat Party's intervention (PSD), in the Kosovo Parliament over the “Contour Global” has revealed in the Assembly, as through this interpelance they have said that the current will be expensive for 60 percent with the new “Kosova “, until the cost of the thermal power plant will amount to 4.5 billion euros, something incapable and impossible that will happen.

Even according to economic principles, it is known that investment in equipment, machinery, and elsewhere by itself brings price hikes, but those prices cannot be too large, and there will be expensive flow, but not as much as they have said in the PDS, but they can go to about 30 percent.

Likewise, the PSD and all should know that within a year businesses in our country lose out on the regular supply of electricity 300m euros, even electricity, according to Kosovo's Economica reports, is listed as the main problem facing businesses.

If the Government of the Republic of Kosovo broke the contract and pulled out of the project to build New Kosovo “, with “Contour Global” then the state of Kosovo will have to pay in the form of punishing this company 19.2m euros.

The good of Thermocentral Plant “) New Kosovo is because its life expectancy will be 40 years, and after a period of 20 years, the thermal power plant will be the property of the Government of Kosovo, so it means 20 years will operate with it “Contour Global” and the next 20 years will be the Government of Kosovo.

Construction and Employment 

That New Kosovo is a serious and promising project shows even the fact that in its construction, global-wide companies are expected to be involved: General Electric, Mitsubishi Hitachi, Siemens, Doosan, etc., through an international procurement process to select companies that will build the thermocentral plant plant “New Kosova”.

With the construction of Thermocentral Plant “New Kosovo and Re”, in addition to having stable and qualitative power supplies, we will have both large facilities and benefits, both in employment, but also in its residents at the site where the power plant is built.

Over four or five years, the construction of the new thermal power plant will be employed by up to 10,000 people, meanwhile after the start of electricity production in the “ @x1> generators will be employed at 500 people who will enjoy permanent employment. Such and stable employment will, whether for a period or for all eternity, be of great effects and far-reaching effects on the economy.

Also, it should be highly estimated how the Government of Kosovo achieved compliance with the “Contour Global” company, to establish the Community Development Fund, whose budget will reach a lot of 10m euros, which will be invested for a seven-year period of good zone residents on different projects, both infrastructure and other projects, which are of great importance for different cultural and sports activities.

Old Termocentrals 

That the contract with the company “Contour Global”, for the construction of the thermocentral plant “New Kosovo” must be done and not stop showing the age of the existing Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK), which was built after the 1960s and 70s. As a result of their old age and frequent collapses in the state budget has lost millions of euros from their lack of production.

According to statistics only from KEK's personal budget, after 2013, when privatisation of the distribution and supply network has become now KEDS, 76m euros have been invested in repairs to the two thermocentrals “Kosovo A” by five blocs, built in 1962 and “Kosova B”, which was built in 1975, should not be forgotten the investments on the 2003-2016 route, which total more than 400m euros in the blocks of these two thermal power plants.

A frightening statistic is also about electricity imports, where about 540m euros have been spent between 2000 and 2015.

In total, according to post-war statistics, investments in Kosovo's electricity sector total over 1.2 billion euros. Calculating this amount and the loss of businesses from lack of electricity, with a clear vision, we could build the thermocentral Plant itself “New Kosovo”, and now we would have the first kilowatts of electricity from the new generation blocs.

As a country, the Republic of Kosovo, there are more than 10 billion tons of linen and as such, we are the fifth country in the world for the amount of coal, and not using this natural wealth would be a fatal error with serious damage.

Kosovo does not have enough hydric resources to produce water currents, nor do we have the opportunity to produce electricity from the wind because of geographical land configuration.

We have to understand all that with the huge blocks in existing thermal power plants, we can't have the stability of the power supply, for this and other facts I mentioned above, we need to have new generation capacity, despite construction costs, because the higher cost is that of electricity from import rather than have new thermal power plants.

The author is National Coordinator for the Western Balkans and Council for Regional Co-operation (KBR)