The dismissed executive director of EPCG-Željezara Nikšić, Đorđije Manojlović, said that he was proud of everything he did with the team and workers at that factory, that he was grateful to the parent company for the position he held, that the optimal number of workers were employed, and that the business plan made by the parent company was "oversized".
Manojlović reminded that the business plan envisaged four activities - solar power plants, constructions, substructures and Kovačnica, that the solar power plants started to be implemented in April, as well as that the public procurement system and the connection were independent of the Ironworks.
According to him, until April 11, he was the only employee at Željezara, and after that they announced competitions, formed two departments and registered for public procurement immediately.
Manojlović said that the first public procurement started in May and that they are now in the phase of public procurement for five megawatts. According to him, the construction of structures was designed for ten megawatts, for which they had no orders, and the construction of structures for one megawatt on the ground is in progress.
"We submitted a specification for 20 megawatts to the parent company, but we have not yet received an answer. For the substructure program, according to the business plan, 100 megawatts should have been ordered for the year, but none was ordered. In the meantime, we acquired machines for that part and reoriented on anodized locks," said Manojlović.
According to the business plan, it was planned that the Forge would start operating on September 1.
"We started trial production at the end of July, we prepared a complete overhaul of the Steel Plant, a complete overhaul of the Foundry, traffic, power plant. Everything was in the direction of starting that production. Unfortunately, we have a problem with the Agency for the Protection of Competition, but that does not apply specifically to the start of our production, but whether the purchase of the Ironworks was state aid. Only after that opinion could we proceed with the implementation. The Ironworks has existed for 70 years and the decision to stop steel production was made too quickly. We could have waited longer, we had "We still have variants, to introduce them through the Institute for Ferrous Metallurgy and start production. That should have been realized as well, we also had the support of the Government," said Manojlović, explaining the business plan and what they managed to achieve.
According to the business plan, as Manojlović said, they were supposed to install five megawatts in the Ironworks every month, which was "a little over-dimensioned".
"Time will tell what and how. As far as the workers themselves and the entire crew are concerned, more than could have been done in these seven months. Here we entered a ruin, people worked in the field, fixing the halls and overhauling the equipment, we opened a workers' restaurant, we started operating an anodized locksmith shop, we brought in several legal entities as a cluster, they are the tenants," said Manojlović, who will most likely to stay at Željezara after the shift.
As for securing salaries, they expect a new business plan and new projects. 288 workers are permanently employed in the Ironworks, and around 80 contractors.
"As far as contractors are concerned, the volume of work was such that it required a certain number of contractors. There were about 30 people on repairs, repairs, XNUMX contractors were on security, because in June we got the green light from the parent company to form a security service, and since we didn't have people with a license, we had to find a way to hire people. Manojlovic said.
The board of directors of EPCG-Zeljezara Nikšić dismissed Manojlović two days ago due to, as they said, failure to implement the business plan, and appointed the head of the company's legal department, Radojka Jeretin, as acting executive director of Željezara.
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