The terminated contract with the Bosnian company Energoinvest for the construction of the 400 kilovolt Bitola – Elbasan transmission line ends in arbitration. Two days ago, the Electricity Transmission System Operator of the Republic of North Macedonia – MEPSO appealed the decision of the pre-arbitration body for dispute resolution, which decided that the termination of the contract for the energy connection with Albania was unjustified and that Energoinvest has the right to claim damages of EUR 6 million.
MEPSO says that before filing the appeal, they consulted with two renowned law firms and are firmly convinced that the Arbitration Court in Paris will decide in their favor.
Statements were also quoted at the press briefing from the previous directors of MEPSO, who were part of the first broadcast of Business 21-Investigation, where EUR 50 million for our energy connection with Albania ended up. The November 2024 field survey revealed that one part of the project – the Bitola 2 – Elbasan transmission line, which was to be built by the Sarajevo-based Energoinvest company – was stalled, which led to the termination of the contract and the selection of a new contractor.
“The contract with Energoinvest does not provide for a price change and is a turnkey deal. Leaving the construction site or stopping construction work, a clearly stated intention not to continue fulfilling the obligations is grounds for termination of the contract by MEPSO,” said JSC MEPSO.
MEPSO claims that due to the failure to build the interconnector to Albania, the state is losing EUR 6 million per year and has so far paid EUR 1 million in penalties for not withdrawing the funds. Or the total loss so far is approx. EUR 19.8 million. Otherwise, MEPSO will file a claim for EUR 19 million in damages before the arbitration court.
The energy connection with Albania should now be realized by the Croatian consortium “Dalekuvod”, with which a contract of EUR 19.3 euros has been signed with a completion deadline of 30 months. Energoinvest, on the other hand, was paid between EUR 4 million and EUR 5 million for 4 percent of the realization. The transformer station near Ohrid, which is the second part of the connection with Albania, should be ready by October 2026.
