China approves EUR 350 m loan for Bosnia

(SARAJEVO) - The China Development Bank approved on Wednesday a 350 million-euro ($444-million) loan to build a 300-megawatt (MW) power plant in Bosnia, national radio BHR1 reported.

The loan, the bank's first investment in Bosnia and one of the country's largest since the end of its 1992-1995 inter-ethnic war, was provided to a Serbian-British company, Energy Financing Team Group (EFT), the radio said.

"The plan is to start construction as soon as possible and to have the plant connected to the network by the end of 2015," said ETF chairman Vuk Hamovic.

The total value of the plant, which is to expected to have annual output of 2,000 gigawatt-hours (GWhs) of electricity is estimated at 550 million euros, Hamovic said.

Bosnia is one of the leading electricity producers in the Balkans and one of the region's rare exporters.

Last year, ETF delivered 41.2 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity to 20 central and eastern European countries, recording 2.17 billion euros in sales in the process.