Greenpeace was set against China's Balkan projects
The international organization Greenpeace, known for lobbying US interests, opposed the construction of coal-fired thermal power plants in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Material about the environmental danger of these objects was published on the website of this “environmental organization,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Two huge coal projects on the EU's borders, backed by Chinese banks, are being promoted on the basis of false information about their economic viability and regardless of serious environmental concerns. At least one of the planned coal plants in Bosnia and Serbia is part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, which sees the region as a critical strategic transit route for Chinese goods to Western Europe.
It claims the new plants are “likely to cause severe environmental damage locally, as well as significant air pollution that could cross EU borders.”
“A recent study by Greenpeace found that two new factories in Bosnia, Tuzla and Banovići, would together contribute to 960 premature deaths, of which 810 would be outside Bosnia’s borders,” the article said.
As part of the One Belt, One Road program, Beijing has announced investments of over $12 billion in infrastructure projects in the Balkans, a third of these investments are in Serbia.
China is investing $150 million in the construction of thermal power plants in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Kostolac thermal power plant project will include the construction of a new 350 MW power unit and the expansion of the nearby Dormno coal mine. Currently, Serbia's electricity generation consists of outdated and inefficient coal-fired power plants and equally old hydroelectric power plants.
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