FYROM calls for more bids on N-plant
SKOPJE (Reuters) – The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) has invited new bids for its Negotino thermal power plant, having annulled a first tender citing «weaknesses» in the bids. The tender notice invited bids by February 10, 2007, for 100 percent of stocks at a minimum price of -38 million. Interested bidders must have had an average annual turnover of -400 million over the past three years. FYROM’s center-right government, which took power in August, annulled the previous tender in November, saying it had produced questionable results. Austrian utility EVN disputed the decision, saying it had been told by the previous government in June that it had won the tender. EVN said it had offered -4 million for the oil-fueled power plant, which it planned to convert into a 750-megawatt coal-powered plant. It had also earmarked -752 million in investment over five years to overhaul the facility. The new FYROM government said the tender, which invited offers as a package consisting of the outright purchase price plus a pledge on future investment, had yielded unacceptably low bids. It said that none of the bidders had signed an agreement to buy the plant.
