Porțile de Fier II hydroelectric plant was refurbished at a price 12 times higher than that of Lotru-Ciunget unit, says manager of Hidroelectrica and head of the insolvency Euro Insol, Remus Borza.

Heard as witness by the Anticorruption Department (DNA), Borza said that the Romanian authorities are investigating two contracts started 15 years ago, with a value of about 500 million euro, which include the Porțile de Fier (Iron Gates) upgrading, according to Bursa.

He said that these contracts affected “dramatically” Hidroelectrica, as the company recorded a loss of one billion euros by providing contracts directly, rather than resorting to a transparent tender procedure.

“During the period 1997-2012, only one central was refurbished via tender. I mean Lotru-Ciunget unit, with a power of 510 MW, where the price of refurbishment was of 113,000 euro / MW. At the Iron Gates II, for which I was questioned as a witness today, the revamping price was 12 times higher, 1.3 million / MW. The difference between Lotru Ciunget and PF-II is a contract awarded by public tender – Lotru-Ciunget versus a direct contract – Iron Gates II, “Borza said.

In his opinion, responsible for this situation is a consortium of companies that benefited during the period 2007-2010 of works with direct appointment, at the expense of the state company Hidroelectrica.

He also said that Romanian companies, as UCM Resita, Energomontaj, Hidroserv, who built the national energy system, have been discriminated since 1990 and became undesirable to the award of public contracts, as foreign companies are preferred.