The inclusion of the existing main power utility PPC Meliti I lignite-fired power station and the prospective Meliti II facility to the utility’s bailout-required list of unit sales would require any contract for the latter’s development to be offered through a tender, the corporation’s chief executive Manolis Panagiotakis clarified today during a general shareholders’ meeting.

If the Meliti units are not included on PPC’s bailout-related unit sale list then PPC should not have any issues actualizing its plan, the utility chief pointed out.

Just days ago, deputy development minister Stergios Pitsiorlas noted that collaborations such as a partnership envisaged by PPC with CMEC, the China Machinery Engineering Corporation, for the construction and operation of Meliti II would need to be established through tenders. This was widely viewed as a further government obstacle to PPC’s plans.

“Much will depend on the procedure determining the units to be included in PPC’s sale package,” the PPC chief noted during today’s general shareholders’ meeting. The list of PPC lignite-fired unit sales needs to be prepared by next month.

“Preparing this list is not a simple matter as power stations cannot be split into units, nor is it easy to break up the mines supplying these power stations,” Panagiotakis remarked.

Prior to Pitsiorlas’s remarks, energy minister Giorgos Stathakis announced that a new tender would need to be staged for part of the Vevi mine, whose output would be crucial for Meliti II.

“If the Vevi mine’s current tender runs into trouble then this is sure to create problems with the Chinese investors for the Meliti project,” the PPC head noted. “This would also affect supply for PPC’s existing Meliti I power station,” he added.