HPP bid opening postponed

TIRANA, Sept. 11 – The Economy and Energy Ministry it will open bids on the privatization of four small and medium-sized hydropower plants on Friday, Sept. 14. The Ministry was supposed to open bids for the Bistrica HPPs on Sept. 10 and continue with the Ulez and Shkopet HPPs on Sept. 13 but said it postponed them so that procedures do not affect each other.
“Because of the complexity of this process and so that the procedures do not affect each other we will not make public the names of the bidders. The process will become transparent on Sept. 14,” said Sokol Dervishaj, the chair of the bids evolutions committee, declining to answer questions from journalists.
The privatization of four small and medium-sized hydropower plants is also expected to attract wide attention. Two Austrian companies and a French one have been qualified to submit bids on the privatization of four small and medium sized hydropower plants. Austria’s EVN and Verbund which have formed a joint venture to build a giant HPP in northern Albania are competing separately in this tender along with France’s CNR & CN’AIR. Turkey’s Calik and Limak Energy, Italy’s Tozi Spa and an Austrian-Israeli consortium have also recently entered the race for the purchase of the four HPPs.
The hydropower plants (HPP), which government is selling, include the Ulez and Shkopet HPPs on the River Mat, in northern Albania, and two small HPPs on the Bistrica River, in southern Albania. The four HPPs are reported to have an installed power of 77 Megawatts, accounting for 5.3 percent of hydro electricity produced by state run Power Corporation KESH.
Government hopes to collect around Euro 150 million from the sale of the four HPPs with a total capacity of 77 MW. All four HPPs are in good condition especially the southern Bistrica HPPs which have been upgraded under a Euro 30 million investment.