Mali, Djedovic Handanovic sign deals with EBRD to bring renewables to heating plants

BELGRADE - Serbian First Deputy PM and Finance Minister Sinisa Mali and Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic signed on Tuesday contracts and agreements completing a financing arrangement for a new 40.5 mln euro programme with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) that will introduce renewable energy sources in ten heating plants in Serbia.

With EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso, who is visiting Serbia, Mali signed a contract on a 30 mln euro loan, while Djedovic Handanovic signed agreements on donations by the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs totalling 4.5 mln euros and a 3 mln euro EU donation as part of the Regional Energy Efficiency Programme.

Combined with an earlier agreement on 3 mln euro SECO grants, the deals secure the 40.5 mln euros required to carry out the project.

It will be implemented in Becej, Bogatic, Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Krusevac, Novi Pazar, Nis, Pancevo, Paracin and Vrsac.

Mali noted that Serbia was the world's biggest EBRD client per capita, which he said spoke of Serbia's credibility and successful reforms.

"This project symbolises the way we can help our local self-government units, improve air quality and show how Serbia has changed when it comes to something that is called the green agenda," Mali said.

He added that this project, too, was a part of the Leap Into the Future - Serbia 2027 programme.

Djedovic Handanovic said the EBRD was one of Serbia's most important partners in energy transition and that, from now on, the cooperation with the institution would be expanded to include long-distance heating.

Renaud-Basso said the goal of the project was to transform of the long-distance heating system in Serbia.