Vitebsk Hydroelectric Power Plant to join One Belt One Road initiative

Vitebsk Hydroelectric Power Plant will join China's One Belt, One Road initiative, Yao Han Wu, Executive Director at China National Electric Engineering Company (CNEEC) which is building the Belarusian power plant in Vitebsk, said during a roundtable on Belarus' advantages and prospects in the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt on 28 June, BelTA has learned.

Yao Han Wu stressed the importance of the One Belt, One Road initiative put forward by China President Xi Jinping. "Now it is a major direction of the country's strategic policy," the CNEEC Executive Director noted. He pointed out that Belarus is actively working to join the initiative. The construction of the Chinese-Belarusian Industrial Park Great Stone attests to this.

"The Belarusian-Chinese relations have reached a higher level. Our company is working hard to promote them and facilitate the implementation of the One Belt One Road strategy. We are doing our best to ensure effective and high-quality construction of Vitebsk Hydroelectric Power Plant which will become an environmentally friendly source of energy," Yao Han Wu noted.

He expressed confidence that the relations between Belarus and China will be growing stronger.

Vitebsk Hydroelectric Power Plant will make use of the water-energy potential of the Western Dvina River. As expected it will be the most powerful hydroelectric plant in Belarus. With installed capacity at 40MW, the plant will be able to provide electricity to a third of Vitebsk Oblast. Vitebsk Hydroelectric Power Plant is scheduled to produce first electricity in 2017.

In accordance with Belarus' energy security concept up to 2020, a cascade of four hydroelectric power plants will be built on the Western Dvina River: Polotsk, Vitebsk, Beshenkovichi and Verkhnedvinsk. Their aggregate installed capacity is 110-125MW.

BELARUSIAN NEWS