Energoinvest in Libyan deal
SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Bosnia’s largest engineering group Energoinvest has clinched a new $52 million deal with Libya to build power transmission lines and a transformer station, General Manager Dzemail Vlahovljak said yesterday. Vlahovljak said Energoinvest has now secured projects amounting to over -120 million ($172.7 million) in Libya and projects worth some -60 million in Algiers, its traditional markets from before the 1992-95 war. «These contracts provide security and stability to our operation, which was hurt this year by the global political situation, particularly in Algiers,» Vlahovljak told an annual news conference. Energoinvest’s preliminary results for 2007 showed revenues of 319.5 million Bosnian marka ($235.3 million) and profits of 2.7 million marka, compared with 2006 revenues of 306.1 million marka and profits of 2.5 million marka. It aims to more than double profits next year and increase revenues to 384.1 million marka, said Finance Director Dzevad Ganic. The company is among Bosnia’s top five exporters and exports account for half its revenues. Energoinvest had annual turnover of about $2.5 billion before the war, during which it was heavily damaged. Energoinvest plans to expand into the Middle East next year by forming a joint venture with partners in Saudi Arabia, said Vlahovljak’s deputy, Abdulharis Seta. The government of Bosnia’s Muslim Croat federation scrapped its plans to privatize Energoinvest earlier this year, saying it was a strategic company. «If we are building hydroelectric plants in Pakistan, Libya, Algiers, isn’t it normal that we do such projects in our country?» he said.
