China's Sinohydro starts building 210 MW HPP in Georgia
TBILISI. April 24 (Interfax) - China's Sinohydro Group Limited began construction of a 210 MW hydropower plant in northwest Georgia on Monday.
The plant is being built in the Svaneti region, on the Nenskra River, the largest tributary of the Enguri River.
"This is a historic construction project not only for Svaneti, but for all of Georgia," Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said at the signing of the document to start construction of Nenskra HPP, after which he laid the first foundation stone of the future plant.
The plant, which will be built in five years, "will make it possible to double the electricity produced at our HPP in the winter," he said. Georgia has not built such a large HPP since the Enguri HPP, Saakashvili said.
Georgia's power plants now have capacity of 1,800 MW, but this will increase dramatically by 2017 with the construction of new hydropower plants, he said.
The construction of Nenskra HPP will also help create jobs, as the project will employ 1,000 to 1,200 people, 90% of whom will be local residents, the president said.
It was reported earlier that the operator of the Nenskra HPP project is Georgian Railway Construction (GRC), a subsidiary of Georgian Railway LLC. The feasibility study was prepared by a consortium led by Swiss firm Shtuky following an international tender, and the financial adviser on the project is KPMG.
The project will cost $630 million.
GRC secured the right to build Nenskra HPP in June 2010 based on a memorandum of mutual understanding with the energy and economic development ministries, and LLC Electricity System Commercial Operator. The main purpose of the future plant, which is to be completed in 2017, is to eliminate electricity shortages that plague Georgia in the winter. It will export excess electricity to neighboring countries.
There are currently 15 new HPP under construction in Georgia, and construction of another 20 is scheduled to start in 2012-2013. The country expects to raise up to $4 billion of investment for these projects.