The prime ministers of Albania and Croatia - Sali Berisha and Ivo Sanader - might strike a deal for joint construction of a nuclear power plant near Skadar in the vicinity of the Albanian border with Montenegro by the end of the month, Montenegrin media report.

Plant's construction will cost over Euro four billion and it will have a capacity of 1.500 megawatts. Croatia's power company HEP will be in charge of the construction and a bulk of the produced energy will go to Croatia.

Authorities in Podgorica announced that they hadn't received an invitation to take part in the construction of the power plant on the shore of Lake Skadar, which is mainly situated in the territory of Montenegro.

Its Tourism and Environment Ministry noted that Montenegro has adopted a law banning construction of nuclear facilities in 1995.

With respect to the law, Montenegro hopes that no international conventions will be breached, under which the country planning to build a facility that might affect the environment beyond its borders, should provide backing from all potentially endangered states for the construction.

Deputy Minister of Environment Sinisa Stankovic has warned the authorities in Tirana that "Albania risks the neighbourly relations with Montenegro", unless it decides without prior permission to build a nuclear plant on that location.