Only months before the elections, the Parliament today approved the initial proposal for another dubious contract with a foreign strategic investor. Greek Mytilineos energy company will receive a contract to build a gas generating power plant near Skopje, which will also supply the city with heating water

The Government strongly supports the plan, insisting that it will add between 90 and 105 MW of electric generatic capacity and slightly more in heating capacity. The entire contract is valued at over 200 million EUR, and the country is expected to subsidize it by 50 million, on top of giving away the land for the plant.

The proposal comes months after another major Greek investment in the energy sector, the Cebren hydro plant, collapsed with little explanation. The Government insists that Macedonia will have to gradually close down the Bitola coal plant, which provided the backbone of energy independence in Macedonia, and while some investments have been made in solar, no baseline production was added since the contruction of the Russian owned TETO gas plant in downtown Skopje.

Critics of the plan point out to a previous Greek “investment” in the energy sector in Macedonia, when the country sold the Okta oil refinery near Skopje and was saddled with an obligation to purchase a huge quantity of heating oil every year, at inflated prices. The deal with Mytilineos will also include an obligation that Macedonian state owned companies purchase its power and heating water, while the price of the product will rely on the unpredictable price of natural gas.