It would seem that the treasury has received three or four offers for the Ostroleka power plant. However it is rumoured that only that submitted by the Belgian Electrabel meets the conditions laid down in the privatisation documentation.
Obviously the treasury wants to get the best deal possible. It will only get it if there is competition and that is why it will probably ask the other parties to correct their applications.
The Ostroleka plant is not an easy sell. The town is located some 100 km north east of Warsaw and fuel transport is a major cost. Around fifty percent of its coal comes from the Bogdanka mine near Lublin although it has a high sulphur content and the plant does not have the equipment needed to remove it. Therefore it needs to mix the coal with cleaner coal from Silesia. A further problem will be meeting environmental laws on its three 200MW power blocks. By 2006 the plant will have to meet clean air laws at a cost of around USD40m E USD50m.
Cleaner fuel could come from gas and a section of the Siberian pipe line will pass close to Ostroleka. However that would mean the construction of new facilities at a cost of around USD150m.