BELGRADE (Serbia), November 16 – Serbia and Bosnia's Serb Republic plan to jointly invest a total of 500 million euro ($592 million) in the construction of three hydropower plants (HPPs) on Drina river, Serbian energy minister Zorana Mihajlovic said.

"The plan is to start the construction of the Buk Bijela HPP in 2021, and then successively the two other HPPs," Mihajlovic said in a video file posted on the website of Serbian public broadcaster RTS on Saturday.

In March 2019, EPS and ERS agreed to join forces in the construction of the 93 MW Buk Bijela HPP on the Drina river. In this way, the two companies extended their cooperation in the hydropower sector, as they previously agreed to build jointly the 44.5 MW Foca and the 43.2 MW Paunci HPPs, also on Drina river.

"Drina is a river where we could built HPPs and ensure the energy stability of the region," Mihajlovic said.

In June 2020, the Serb Republic prime minister, Radovan Viskovic, said EPS and ERS agreed to establish a joint venture for the construction of the three HPPs.

The Serb Republic is one of two entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other is the Federation.

($ = 0.8441 euro)