March 22, Deputy Energy Minister of Belarus Mikhail Mikhadziuk refuted the allegations of unprofitability of future Belarusian NPP, as well as information about corruption in this project. "We are accused that there is a risk of corruption and a kickback in the station's cost. It's complete nonsense, someone's baseless statements," said Mikhail Mikhadziuk.
«We have not yet begun to design but have already been accused of reducing the project’s timing,» BelTA quoted Mikhail Mikhadziuk.
Deputy Head of the Department of Energy said that the Russian company Rosatom had developed a transparent system of procurement of equipment and materials needed for plant construction in Belarus, while pricing would be implemented in accordance with the Belarusian legislation.
Mikhail Mikhadziuk said that the second examination of the project had already been conducted. «Everything is clean and transparent,» said the deputy minister. He also explained that all energy projects had a fairly long payback period. Thus, according to him, construction of hydroelectric power will be paid off in more than 15 years.
Deputy Energy Minister also informed that Belarus had been holding consultations with the Ministry of Finance of Russia on the NPP construction loan, as well as its infrastructure. According to him, while the Russian side hasn’t given a principled refusal to finance NPP infrastructure. In addition, he noted that the creation of joint Belarusian-Russian venture to export electricity was not a condition for the loan. Mikhail Mikhadziuk said that of Belarus had already started to attract credit funds of Belarusbank for the construction of the station.
