A day after the World Bank President Jim Yong Kim confirmed that they would not support a planned 500-megawatt (MW) power plant in Kosovo because it would use coal rather than cheaper renewable fuels, the Government of Kosovo is firm to continue implementation of this project, Gazeta Express reported.
Kosovo Minister of Economic Development, Valdrin Lluka, told the daily Koha Ditore that jointly with the US investment consortium “Contour Global” they will continue working on implementation of this project as per the agreement.
Kosovo’s government had asked the World Bank to provide partial risk guarantees to help unlock cheaper loans for the project. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim answering on Wednesday to a Kosovo civil society representative at a meeting of the bank and International Monetary Fund in Bali that they will not support such a project. In comments broadcast on the bank’s website, he said the institution’s rules required that it “go with the lowest cost option, and renewables have now come below the cost of coal … so without question we are not going to do that.” But Kosovo Minister Lluka says Kosovo will not make compromises and jeopardise the country’s power supply. “As Minister responsible for energy, I will not allow that Kosovo depends on the import of energy,” he said, noting that Kosovo has extraordinary potential to generate energy, not only for Kosovo’s needs but also to export. Kosovo signed a deal in 2017 with Contour Global to build the plant at a cost of around 1 billion euros, and Lluka told media on Wednesday that the company is looking for alternative options of borrowing funds to build the power plant.
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