Continuation of the construction of hydropower plant Ulog on Neretva river is still on hold due to unstable soil and frequent landslides. Due to these reasons the construction was halted nearly three years ago and now the construction deadline has been moved to 2020.
A 30-year concession for this project was awarded to EFT Group and the preparatory works for the construction of the plant started in August 2010. EFT Group contracted Chinese company Sinohydro for the construction works in September 2012. The construction permit was issued in April 2013 by the Government of the Republic of Srpska (RS).
The project for the construction of this 35 MW hydropower plant, with projected annual electricity generation of 85,000 MWh, is worth over 61 million euros. It was initially planned that the construction should be completed by the end of this year and the should be put into operation in 2017. However, construction works did not get very far, given the fact that only access roads and transmission line have been build.
The Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining confirmed that the construction of HPP Ulog was suspended due to complex geological conditions and detailed research and analysis in order to adapt the project to the conditions of the terrain is currently ongoing. The statement form the Ministry said that the concessionaire intensively conducts activities in order to adapt the project and it is planned that the construction works would be continued by the end of this year, adding that the deadline for the completion of HPP Ulog is pushed to 2020, while the plant should be put into operation in 2021.
Despite the number of problems associated with this project, EFT Group stressed that the cancellation of the entire project is out of the question, transmits Serbia-energy.eu