The Tsankov Kamak hydro project has lapsed 18 months behind schedule, Lyubomir Velkov, chief executive director of national power grid operator NEK, told the parliamentary energy policy committee on July 26.

The delay is due to discrepancies between project designs and the geological site surveys.

An Austrian consortium headed by Alpine Mayreder Bau GmbH is building the 220 million euro project, which will consist of an 11 million cu m dam lake and a hydro power plant with an 85MW capacity, according to Dnevnik Daily.

Velkov did not disclose if any measures have been taken to overcome the delay.

The Tsankov Kamak project is being implemented under an Austrian-Bulgarian memorandum for understanding and bilateral co-operation to conduct mutual actions on the Kyoto Protocol.

Velkov also said that the rehabilitation and modernisation of the Dolna Arda hydro complex is on schedule.