Skopje, 7 September 2022 (MIA) - PPS, a Greek company, to the Environment Ministry has sent a complete bid to be awarded concession to use Crna Reka river water, Environment Minister Naser Nuredini said Wednesday. The French company EDF also sent a bid, which is not binding, but it didn't provide a guarantee for partaking in the procedure. After launching on January 17, the procedure for sending bids for the project ended today, September 7. A Ministry committee will be tasked in 60 days with evaluating and sending a report to the government about the offer, Nuredini said adding the process will be transparent. A contract with successful evaluation is expected to be signed in the first half of 2023. A private partner is expected to be selected also by mid-2023 before the construction of the Chebren hydropower plant begins. It should produce balanced energy of at least 333 megawatts. "Today is a historic day for our energy sector and for the future of the country in general having in mind the energy crisis and the consequences from the lack of power globally. As a result, the countries are focusing on using domestic capacities. The government throughout the whole process has been fully committed to making this project work because there had been 13 unsuccessful attempts in the past 20 years," Minister Nuredini told a news conference. According to him, the project will be a public and private partnership with the company ESM acting as the public partner. "North Macedonia today was recognized as a stable country for investing as proven by the bid received today," Nuredini said noting that the first production is expected to be realized after 2028/29.