SwedPower Consortium to assist Kosovo power industry
SWEDPOWER CONSORTIUM TO ASSIST KOSOVO POWER INDUSTRY A consortium led by SwedPower International, a Vattenfall subsidiary, has just won a major contract to provide "Management and Technical Assistance" to KEK, the power utility in Kosovo, to help reshape the power industry in Kosovo, which is in much need of support. The Consortium also comprises German members VEAG (Berlin), LAUBAG, and Veag PowerConsult (Vetschau) - all of them companies in the Vattenfall Group - as well as DECON and MVV Consultants. The two-year contract worth over nine million Euros was awarded by the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR) against strong competition from a number of rivals across Europe. The contract was signed over the Easter break and work commenced immediately thereafter. The European Agency for Reconstruction is responsible for the management of the main EU assistance programmes in Kosovo. The aim is to stabilise power production and distribution in Kosovo and to help local management put the local power company KEK on a sound technical and economic footing for its own future development. The region is served by KEK's two brown coal-based power plants in Pristina but today their total output of 800 megawatts (MW) is used ineffectively. The main task is to develop management and technical skills and to address technical and non-technical losses by i.a. establishing proper billing and payment systems. The consortium will have a team of ten residents ("secondees") covering power stations, mining, transmission and distribution, finances, personnel and restructuring, working alongside key KEK management in Pristina supported by a number of short-term experts as may be required. The consortium brings together vast experience from restructuring of utilities and home energy markets of the participating companies themselves, specific experience from the region, and, in the case of Laubag, experience from operating similar type of mining equipment in Germany. Both SwedPower and VEAG have been working in Kosovo since the cease-fire and have thorough knowledge from working in Kosovo and also with KEK, the EAR, the international donor community and with UNMIK, the interim government in Kosovo. From Vattenfall's Press Office, telephone: +46 8 739 50 10. For more information, please contact: Jan-Inge Gidlund, CEO, SwedPower International, telephone +46 8 739 6000. Charles Borthwick, Regional Manager, SwedPower International, telephone +46 8 739 6000. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/04/22/20020422BIT00770/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/04/22/20020422BIT00770/wkr0002.pdf