Chinese-Singaporean Investments Worth 1.5 Billion BAM: How the WPP Trebinje 1 Project Became Leotar

Negotiations for granting a concession for the construction of the “Trebinje 1” wind power plant were conducted without public competition, with a Chinese-Singaporean consortium of non-transparent ownership structure and limited public reporting obligations. After they withdrew from the project, the Government of Republika Srpska continued negotiations with similarly Singaporean-Chinese companies of comparable credibility. The absence of a transparent procedure and public data on verification of investor operations indicates a significant risk of abuse and corruption in the process of managing public resources.

The project for the construction of the “Trebinje 1” wind power plant was presented to the public as one of the largest investments in the renewable energy sector in Republika Srpska. It included the construction of a wind farm with an installed capacity exceeding 500 MW near Trebinje, and its value, as officially announced by the Ministry of Energy and Mining of RS, was to be 1.5 billion BAM, while the investor would pay 7.8 million in concession fees.

However, from the early stages of negotiations, it became clear that the concession granting procedure was not being conducted through a transparent and competitive process. Instead of issuing a public call, the Government of Republika Srpska opted for direct negotiations with the companies “China Power PTE.LTD” and “Zhongbo Group,” presenting them as Chinese investors with extensive experience in the renewable energy sector.

Minister of Energy and Mining Petar Đokić, on behalf of the Government of RS, signed a Strategic Cooperation Agreement in the Field of Renewable Energy Sources with the aforementioned companies in mid-August 2024. The RS authorities have never provided evidence of the companies’ credibility, the interest of other potential investors, or the reasons for choosing a negotiation procedure without competition.

Instead of explanations, the Ministry of Energy and Mining of Republika Srpska, which is responsible on behalf of the Government of RS for conducting negotiations on granting the concession to the Chinese-Singaporean consortium, has repeatedly stated that the RS Concessions Law permits the granting of concessions without public competition if there is a cooperation agreement.

The company “Zhongbo group” d.o.o. Banja Luka” was established on September 22, 2024, three months after signing the cooperation agreement with the Government of RS. This company was owned by the Singaporean firm “Everest Power PTE. LTD,” but subsequently transferred to the ownership of the also Singaporean company “Zodic Energy PTE.LTD.”

Zhongbo Group(Z), according to limited available information, is a company established in 1991 in Beijing. It employs over 10,000 people across 15 departments and has over 40 branches, but apart from similarities in the company description found in Government of RS announcements, there is no other evidence that this particular company is in negotiations with the Government of RS.

“China Power PTE-LTD” was established on October 25, 2023, and according to available data, it is registered as a Private Company Limited by Shares, exempt from public reporting obligations (Exempt Private Company Limited by Shares).

Both companies, “China Power PTE.LTD” and “Zhongbo Group,” or rather the parent company of the Banja Luka firm “Zhongbo group d.o.o. Banja Luka,” use legal models that allow limited public reporting obligations and do not provide clear insight into actual ownership, financial capacity, and origin of capital. Despite this, the Government of RS conducted negotiations on investing in a project with an estimated value of over one and a half billion BAM, although there is no publicly available evidence that a thorough verification of investor credibility was conducted.

The Assembly of the City of Trebinje adopted the Decision on Initiating the Development of a Zoning Plan for the Wind Power Plant without debate, enabling the formal procedure for construction on rural and agricultural land. In this process, environmental impact studies, technical specifications, or financial analyses of the project were not presented. The Head of the Department for Capital Investments, Siniša Vučurević, appointed immediately before initiating the concession contracting procedure, did not respond to questions about this process.

Despite decisions by republican and local authorities that indicated a clear intention to build the wind farm, the Chinese-Singaporean consortium “Zhongbo Group” and “China Power PTE. LTD” notified the Government of Republika Srpska in September 2025 that they were withdrawing from the project.

This only confirmed the criticisms regarding the investor selection process, underscoring questions about whether the selection was ever adequate and whether financial and technical capabilities were thoroughly verified. Instead of initiating a new public and competitive procedure for selecting a new investor, the Government of RS continued negotiations with other companies, changing the project name to “Leotar.”

Instead of “Zhongbo Group” and “China Power PTE. LTD,” the new investment venture was joined by “Zhongji Construction” and “Zodic Energy PTE. LTD,” with whom, as stated by the relevant ministry, a cooperation agreement was signed on October 3, 2025.

The office of the Minister of Industry, Mining and Energy of Republika Srpska, Petar Đokić, stated that the bid for granting the concession for the construction of the “Leotar” wind power plant in the area of the city of Trebinje was submitted by the company “Zodic Energy PTE. LTD,” which was established in March 2025 in Singapore, and just a few days after signing the cooperation agreement with the Government of Republika Srpska, became the owner of the firm “Zhongbo Group d.o.o. Banja Luka,” which had previously withdrawn from the project implementation.

Why is transparency important?

The absence of public competition combined with a lack of information about investor credibility indicates increased corruption risk and calls into question the legality and purpose of the negotiation procedure.

Due to these irregularities, the entire process from the initial project announcements to the current concession granting negotiations demonstrates a pattern of non-transparent governance in which decisions about public resources are made behind closed doors. In such an environment, renewable energy projects do not represent a mechanism on the path to sustainable energy transition, but rather an area of significant corruption risk.

TI BiH has published a case study that indicates the existence of a broader problem in the area of concessions, where the introduction of foreign investors under non-transparent conditions often has fatal consequences for the public interest.

Transparency International in BiH has previously pointed out that numerous projects in which concessions were granted to investors of questionable credibility ended in multi-million arbitration disputes whose costs are still being paid by citizens today. The most well-known case to the public is Vijadukt, which was recently paid over 100 million BAM in compensation due to a disputed concession for the Hydroelectric Power Plant on the Vrbas project. Additionally, Republika Srpska is still in the process of buying back the concession from the controversial firm Comsar Energy, which was granted the right to exploit strategic coal reserves that are now necessary for the normal operation of TPP Ugljevik.

TI BiH has already warned about the non-transparency of other projects for the construction of energy facilities that are supposed to produce electricity from renewable sources.

Specifically, in the case of the construction of SPP Trebinje 1, all construction deadlines were breached, the concession was transferred to a company that does not have the conditions to implement it, and a Hungarian investor who subsequently withdrew was brought into the business. A recent TI BiH investigation revealed that the new owner of the company holding the concession worth 100 million BAM became a Hungarian firm with no revenue and no employees, with a website launched one month before entering the business.

TI BiH has long pointed out that it is necessary to reduce corruption risks in the granting and transfer of concessions for this and similar projects, and that it is therefore essential to improve the legal framework and transparency of procedures through the publication of all relevant information, mandatory public competition, and clearly defined evaluation criteria.

All changes of investors and concession rights should be accompanied by a thorough verification of technical and financial capacity, as well as previous experience, with the publication of ownership structures and the involvement of the local community through public consultations. Due to the lack of this practice and poor decisions by authorities, citizens have paid hundreds of millions in compensation to investors of dubious credibility for projects that were never implemented.