The Director of “Electric Power Industry of the Republic of Srpska” /EPIRS/ Branislava Milekić expressed her satisfaction with the Arbitration Tribunal decision by which the claim for damages of the Czech electric power company /ČEZ/ had been almost entirely rejected, and she emphasized that this was a great success for EPIRS and the entire Republic of Srpska, and that ČEZ was trying to justify itself in front of their public.
Milekic explained that the Arbitration Tribunal had decided to reject by 96.6 percent the claim of ČEZ, which had amounted to around 58 million euros, and that, according to such award, it had been decided that ČEZ was also obliged to pay to the “Electric Power Industry of the Republic of Srpska” the costs of the arbitration procedure amounting to 310.000 euros.
She added that the “Electric Power Industry of the Republic of Srpska” had been ordered to buy out the share of ČEZ in the joint venture New Plants of the Republic of Srpska /NPRS/, commenting that EPIRS did not consider this a cost, but its obligation.
“This has never been in dispute for us, because, from the beginning, EPIRS has been offering to ČEZ to buy out their share in NPRS and to become a one-hundred-percent owner of this company, and thereby to also become the owner of the documentation of the studies, which are the result of extensive research conducted within NPRS, with the aim of developing the Mine and Thermal Power Plant Gacko”, Milekic said and repeated that EPIRS would be able to develop this project without interruptions in the future.
Milekić reminded that the Tribunal had also ordered that EPIRS should pay to ČEZ 1.913.000 eur for certain exchange rate differentials, remarking that this was their only expense arising from this award.
She described the statements of the representatives of ČEZ, that the award was their victory, as the need to justify themselves in front of their public.
“I understand the need of ČEZ to respond to their public why the project and their claim for damages have failed”, Milekic said.
On the other hand, she added, the fact that the Arbitration Tribunal had ruled that ČEZ should pay to EPIRS 310.000 euros for the costs of the procedure spoke sufficiently about who lost and who won in this case.
The Director of the Mine and Thermal Power Plant “Gacko” Milenko Milidrag said that he was familiar with the content of the award and that it was very favourable for this company.
“Practically, we are paying only for the study which we can further use in our development projects”, Milidrag added.
The Arbitration Tribunal made the final arbitration award in the arbitration procedure conducted in Vienna, and the claim of “ČEZ” has been rejected in the percentage of 96 percent.