The initial concession of hydropower plant Dabar agreement was signed in 2011, however, the plant has not been built yet. The Government of the Republic of Srpska (RS) has extended the concession for HPP Dabar, awarded to a subsidiary of state-owned power utility ERS – HET, from 30 years to 50 years.
The one-off concession fee which the concessionaire will have to pay for the extended period amounts to around 750,000 euros, with variable fee amounting to 0.27 eurocents per produced kWh of electricity. According to the initial agreement, the variable fee was determined as 3.1 % of total revenues from the sale of produced electricity. Initially, HPP Dabar was supposed to be commissioned in 2016, but now the new deadline is 2024.
Earlier this month, state-owned power utility ERS has launched a tender for the provision of loans in the amount of almost 120 million euros. The funds are intended for financing hydropower project, such as the construction of HPP Dabar and three hydropower plants on the Bistrica river.
In January 2019, Hidroelekrana Dabar, part of ERS’ subsidiary Hidroelektrane na Trebisnjici (HET), has launched an international tender for financing and construction of hydropower plant Dabar, a project worth some 188 million euros. The selected partner will be obliged to build a dam with embankments and an accumulation basin, a surge tank, a machine house, two 200 kV transmission lines and a drainage channel. The preferred model of financing is a monetary loan with a 15-year repayment period and a four-year grace period. The project partner is expected to provide 85 % or more of the financing, while HET will provide up to 15 %. HPP Dabar will remain in HET’s sole possession following the construction which will last four years. The offer of China Energy Gezhouba Group was selected as best on the tender, but the contract for the construction of the HPP has not yet been signed and the signing has been delayed for several times already. In early 2021, RS Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic said that the contract will be signed soon.
