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PM: Estonia and Latvia will soon make a decision about the NPP construction in Lithuania

Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius said that in two weeks’ time Estonia and Latvia will decide whether they are still interested in the nuclear power plant (NPP) project in Lithuania, writes www.delfi.lt with reference to the news agency BNS.

 

“Today (6 December) I had a chance to speak with the energy minister and was told that in two weeks’ time Latvia and Estonia will let us know if they’re still interested in the project,” the Prime Minister told LNK TV News.

 

According to PM, during the Baltic Prime Ministers meeting in Riga “it was finally possible to convince Estonian and Latvian Prime Ministers to employ experts of highest qualifications. They were also persuaded to start analysing the NPP question and decide whether they are disposed to collaborate with Lithuania or not.”

 

Last week the energy minister Jaroslav Neverovič stated that the fate of Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant will be decided next year.

 

It was previously announced that three Baltic companies along with the Japanese corporation ‘Hitachi’ reviewed the Visaginas NPP project and found possibilities to improve it. However, some questions still remain.

 

It has also been announced that the Japanese agreed to provide the regional partners with a portion of their loan with a 4.3 per cent annual interest rate. In that case Lithuania’s government would have to get a loan of 5,6 billion litas (which is 1,1 billion litas more than planned), and put in 1,3 billion litas of their own capital. Butkevičius immediately stated that the project will decrease in price by one billion litas or more.

 

Also, Hitachi is offering to build a few factories and create a couple of hundred jobs in Lithuania. The Japanese promise that the factories would have orders and remain functional not only during but also after the construction of the NPP.