Macedonia Parks Plan to Sell Power Company

The shift in policy comes almost two years after the government said it planned to sell the company to a foreign investor - but failed to choose a consultancy firm that would find the best model for privatization.

“The current assessment is that it is in Macedonia’s long-term interest if ELEM stays in complete state ownership,” reads the report on the government's work over the past three years, issued last weekend.

The report was issued in the run-up to the early general and presidential elections due in April.

ELEM is one of the last big state companies that has not been privatized in the 20 years since the transition started from a Socialist economy to a free market.

After dividing its old state-run power operator ESM in two, Macedonia sold the power distribution grid to Austria's EVN in 2006.

However, the power production company, ELEM, which mostly manages coal and hydro-power plants, has remained under state control.

In May 2012, representatives of several Qatari companies came to Macedonia to review the financial conditions and technical potential of ELEM.

The government hoped for a substantial profit from selling 49 per cent of the power producing company but a deal was not struck.

The deal with the Qataris was expected to “yield up to €1.2 billion, which will be used to construct new energy facilities that will meet the interests of both the country and the investors”, Viktor Mizo, head of the government's Directorate for Technological Industrial Development Zones, said at the time.

The government later said it would seek a consultancy service in order to explore the best way to sell the company - but never did so.