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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Agreement on construction of hydroelectric power plants on river Drina signed

Belgrade, 11 February 2011

The Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS) and Italy’s Seci Energia S.p.A. signed today at the Serbian government the preliminary agreement on construction of hydroelectric power plants on the middle reaches of the River Drina, worth over €800 million.

Gaetano Maccaferri, left, and Dragomir Markovic sign the agreement

After the signing of the agreement, Minister of Energy and Mining Petar Skundric said that the plan is to build hydroelectric power plants of the capacity of more than 300 megawatts, and pointed out that the middle reaches of the Drina are one of the best hydro potentials in Serbia.

He explained that the electricity from hydroelectric power plants on the Drina would be transferred through Serbia and Montenegro and then through underwater cables to the Adriatic Sea and then to Italy.

Skundric said that he spoke with Italian Minister for Economic Development Paolo Romani about cooperation in the energy sector and strengthening of the overall cooperation between the two countries.

The cooperation is good and the agreement we have signed today will deepen it further, the Minister pointed out.

Minister for Economic Development of Italy Paolo Romani underlined that the signing of the agreement between EPS and the Italian company is the beginning of a fruitful cooperation and added that in upcoming months cooperation will be intensified because of the production of electricity from renewable energy sources, which should start as of 2014.

Romani said that Italy should increase electricity production from renewable sources from the current 8% to 17% in order to meet requirements set by the EU by 2020.

The cooperation between Italy and Serbia will be discussed more at the summit of the two governments that will be held in Belgrade in May, Romani noted.

President of Seci Energia S.p.A Gaetano Maccaferri said that the preliminary agreement with EPS is the second project between these two companies which have already set up a joint company for construction of ten hydroelectric power plants on the River Ibar.

He explained that construction of plants on the Ibar of the capacity of 103 megawatts should be started in the first half of next year and completed by 2015. The value of construction of plants on the Ibar is €300 million.

Director General of EPS Dragomir Markovic said that the total value of EPS and Seci Energia is well over €1 billion and added that the plan is that hydroelectric power plants on the Drina produce 1200 gigawatt hours of electricity per year, and that the steps are being made to include Republika Srpska in this undertaking.