Skopje, 14 November 2024 (MIA) - There is a potential investor who wants to invest EUR 1 billion into a gas cogeneration power plant, announced Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski following the "Dialogue Between the Business Sector and the Government" business forum that was held in Skopje on Thursday, organized by the Macedonia Türkiye Chamber of Commerce (MATTO).

He noted that immediately after the event he will meet with the potential investor at the Government, adding that work is under way on several such projects for the construction of cogeneration power plants, which, according to him, are the only way to reduce pollution caused by heating of houses using wood, wood waste materials, and sometimes tires due to economic circumstances.

"The only way to act immediately in these environments is to replace this type of heating with another energy source that is acceptable to them, and that is central heating. How can we get the cheapest central heating - by building gas cogeneration power plants that during the winter, when needed, will produce electricity and hot water that will be distributed through heat pipes to all environments that today use a completely different energy source that unfortunately emits PM 2.5 and PM 10 particles in the air, being 60 percent of the contributing factor that affects air pollution," Mickoski told journalists.

The government, he added, is working on several such projects. 

“I’m on my way to a meeting at the Government with the potential investor who wants to invest EUR 1 billion into this type of production facility. It won't be at preferential prices, but by market standards. My goal is for the state to be part of the package, to be a co-owner in the investment itself with land, with connections... because we believe that private investors who have access to gas can bring it here in a much simpler and more flexible way than the state,” Mickoski noted.

If everything goes right with the negotiations, the PM said, implementations of the project can start during the course of next year and be completed in three years. ssh/nn/

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