Page 16 - Respond 2019 Magazine

> Feature

In a statement last month, Kosovo prime minister Ramush
Haradinaj said construction was likely to begin early next year.
Lluka and ContourGlobal did not immediately return requests for
comment.
Dajana Berisha, founding member of the Kosovo Civil Society
Consortium for Sustainable Development (Kosid) said: “We’re
happy that our efforts, work has been proven to be right. But
now another battle will probably begin, because we don’t know
whether the government will continue searching for other
investors to come and support the project.”

In 2013 World Bank revised its lending policies to rule out new
coal projects, except in “exceptional circumstances”. Kosovo e
Re has been the only coal project for which the bank has been
considering support.
Years of war and slow reconstruction have left Kosovo with a
power sector based entirely on the tiny country’s abundant
lignite resource. Two Tito-era power stations, just outside the
capital Prishtina, are notorious for breakdowns, black outs and
air pollution.

In September, Joseph Brandt, founder and CEO of ContourGlobal,
announced several bids for contracts to build and operate the plant.
He said it was “crucial to the future of Kosovo’s energy supply”.
The World Bank’s involvement in the coal sector in Kosovo has
been controversial. In 2016, CHN reported on leaked internal
documents that found the bank had breached its own rules when
villagers were forced from their homes to make way for a coal
mine expansion.

This article was first published by Climate Home News at
www.climatehomenews.org

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