The Turkish state could take as much as a 25 percent stake in a planned nuclear power plant project if the Russian-led consortium competing for the contract lowers its price, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Friday.
"A public sector stake is possible if the price falls," Yildiz told the CNN-Turk news channel. "The price needs to be cut to a reasonable level."
"If the prevalent model in the world is one with a public sector stake, then we are ready to do that. The stake could be as much as 25 percent," he added.
A consortium led by Russia's state-owned Atomstroyexport was the only bidder in a government tender to build and operate a 4,800-megawatt nuclear plant on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.
The consortium, which also includes Russia's Inter Rao and Turkey's park Teknik, later revised down its proposed price for supplying electricity but Ankara insists the latest offer is still high.
On Thursday during a visit to Ankara, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin argued that the consortium's offer was already below international market levels as he signed a series of energy cooperation protocols with Turkey.
Turkey plans to build three nuclear power plants in hopes of preventing possible energy shortages and reducing its dependence on foreign supplies but the project is fiercely opposed by environmentalists.
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