YEREVAN - Armenia is holding talks with several German-based companies and banks in the hopes of procuring 100 million euros for construction of a hydro power station in the energy-strapped state, energy ministry officials said.
"We are currently holding talks with Germany's KFW bank for a loan on preferential terms," the ministry's spokesman Levon Vardanyan said late Thursday, adding that technical and economic basis for the station was drawn up by the German-based Fichtner firm.
The Lori-Berdsky station, which would be constructed on the Debed river within the next two years, is expected to produce up to 300 million kilowatt-hours a year.
The KFW bank is due to loan Armenia six million euros this year to upgrade its smaller hydro power stations, Vardanyan added.
The impoverished former Soviet republic of Armenia has suffered from severe energy shortages since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
04/08/2005 02:34 GMT