The agreement that was reached in Trebinje on the payment of money for the compensation for submerged land for Bilećko Lake will be signed by the company "Hydroelektrane na Trebišnjica" and the Municipality of Nikšić, while the remaining unresolved questions about water potential and the share of electricity production in reservoirs will be resolved between the Government of Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Croatia.
This was officially told yesterday to the "News" in the Ministry of Energy and Mining, which is headed by the minister Saša Mujović.
"The issue of compensation for submerged land for the Municipality of Nikšić was resolved with those in charge of it - the company 'Hydroelektrane na Trebišnjica', which is owned by Elektroprivreda Republika Srpska (ERS), which is a state enterprise of Republika Srpska. Therefore, they were the specific address to discuss the compensation for the subdivided land. As for the involvement of the governments of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia, the state of Montenegro will talk with everyone within the jurisdiction of those governments in this process. We would like to remind you that the issue of Bileć Lake is not only a compensation for the divided land. We have unresolved issues of water potential, the issue of the share of produced electricity in reservoirs, existing and potentially future," said the Ministry of Energy.
This week, Mujović is with his colleague from Republika Srpska Petr Đokić, as well as representatives of EPCG and ERS Milutinom Đukanović i Luka Petrović had a meeting after which it was announced that the budget of the Municipality of Nikšić will be richer by 600.000 euros from this year, due to compensation for Bileć Lake, which will be paid retroactively from the beginning of this year.
Half a century without a solution
The Ministry of Energy said that the issue of Lake Bileć is an extremely complicated process that, unfortunately, has not been resolved for more than half a century, which is why it is necessary to go in several directions that are interconnected and require the involvement of three countries (Montenegro, BiH and Croatia). several institutions, different departments, administrations, state enterprises... They also reminded that the three countries that share this watercourse are obliged to talk as signatories to the UN Convention on Water from 1992, which specifies that the states "are obliged to cooperate through bilateral or multilateral agreements or other arrangements and related joint bodies with states that share transboundary waters”.
"Regarding the agreement that was reached in Trebinje, it is about energy facilities and compensation for submerged land, which refers to the department of energy and the Municipality of Nikšić. As for other issues that were opened at the meeting in Trebinje, all competent ministries and institutions will be involved in the negotiations, and it is not a matter of someone's will, but of legal regulations. Water potential is the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Water Administration, and their contribution to this issue will be of inestimable importance, especially in the part of determining the potential that belongs to Montenegro. The Ministry of Energy has begun to resolve a series of issues related to Lake Bilećko, which have not been resolved for decades. In the first phase, an agreement was reached regarding the compensation for the submerged land, which shows good will and is a basis for optimism that concrete progress can be made this time in other issues related to Lake Bilećko, which requires time and the involvement of everyone whose jurisdiction this issue is as well as independent experts", they state in this department, adding that it is a process that is neither simple nor quick.
As it was explained, in order to raise the issue of the concession fee for water, it must be determined how much of the potential of Bileć Lake belongs to which state, which is the basis for further discussions. They reminded that according to the Agreement on the use of waters from Bileć Lake, which includes the distribution of the hydropower potential of HES Trebišnjica, which was signed between Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro in 1971, Montenegro is mentioned only in the part of compensation for submerged land, while the other two republics shared the potential in the ratio of 78%: 22% in favor of BiH.
"The significant imbalance in the distribution of potential is partly caused by the fact that Lake Bilećko is mostly located on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Lake Bileć has submerged a significant part of the territory of Montenegro, to which a significant part of its catchment area belongs. The issue of demarcation of cross-border rivers, division of their potential and resolution of disputes arising is governed by the provisions of several international conventions, rules, declarations and charters, all of which are based on the principle of "reasonable and fair use of water". In our case, only two documents are relevant: the Helsinki Rules on the Use of the Waters of International Rivers - the Water Committee of the World Association for International Law (1966-1996), Article IV and V, and the Convention on the Law of Non-Navigable Uses of International Watercourses - the UN Commission on international law (1997), article 5 and 6", said the Ministry of Energy.
What do the analyzes say?
It was clarified that in various study analyses, the participation of the Montenegrin watershed is represented by different areas, from 30% to 45%, and depending on the multi-criteria analysis, there are two criteria: topographical and hydrogeological watershed.
"According to the latest study, on the surface of Bileć Lake of 440 km2 (hydrogeological basin), which is located on the territory of Montenegro, an average of 20,55 m3/s flows into the Trebišnjica basin. Of that amount of water, 14,22 m3/s appears in the springs of Trebišnjica, and Montenegro cannot claim the right to use those amounts because they are the domicile waters of the Republic of Srpska. The rest of 6,33 m3/s flows in the direction of Lake Bileć and in the direction of Sušice. Given that there are no data on the quantities that flow underground in these directions, the ratio 70%:30% was adopted in the Study. Based on this, the amount of water that flows from the territory of Montenegro into the Bilec reservoir, on the part of the interstate border, is determined. On the other hand, the division of the hydropower potential of Bileć Lake into two neighboring countries - Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina - was calculated. On this basis, Montenegro has the right to use 20,21% of the potential, i.e. 13,60 m3/s, so this value was adopted as Montenegro's participation in the potential of Lake Bileć, said the Ministry of Energy.
According to the orientation data of the Ljubljana Electric Project Study in 1973, Montenegro lost 5 billion kWh, and according to the Energoprojekt-Hidroinženjering data from 2000, 3 billion kWh were lost.
"However, it is important to note here that Montenegro did not participate in the financing of the construction of dams and other facilities of the HET system, and that the final solution must be sought in the corresponding negotiation process. Previous governments tried to solve this issue with different initiatives. The last of them is from March 2022, when the Government passed a conclusion that instructed the then Ministry of Capital Investments to form an expert team. The results on this basis were not achieved since the work of this team did not come to life. The position of this Government is that the issue must be brought up to date in order to resolve the strategically significant issue of water valorization from the aspect of energy potential development in the most efficient and effective way possible, in accordance with international law and practice in these cases," the Ministry of Energy pointed out, adding that concrete results have already been achieved and that Montenegro has proven that it wants to solve these issues in partnership and by agreement, but that it is time to specify the positions of everyone in this process, in order to define the order of future moves.
Mijović: The government has weakened its negotiating position
Economic analyst Dejan Mijović assessed for "Vijesti" that by leaving it to the Minister of Energy Saša Mujović to reduce the big dispute we have with the state of BiH, both its entities and Croatia regarding the long-term unpaid use of our part of the surface and underground waters of the Trebišnjica and Bileć Lake basins to priority. contracting a financially less important future compensation for submerged land in relation to our total claims, the Government of Montenegro significantly weakened its negotiating position.
"The reached agreement only satisfied the interests of Republika Srpska, which has always claimed that Montenegro has the right only to this minor compensation and nothing more. That is why it is illusory to expect that this entity will change its attitude after the concluded agreement and be more ready to discuss compensation for previously used and unpaid water, as well as its future multi-purpose use. The second entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia are certainly satisfied with this arrangement, because they will certainly side with the Republika Srpska in the position that all the claims of Montenegro towards its neighbors have been fully satisfied with the solution reached," said Mijović.
He added that we have already heard from the mayor of Nikšić, Marko Kovačević, Mujović and their party leaders, that they are very satisfied with what has been achieved: "Some because they quickly filled their budgets, and others because they naively thought that they postponed the announced overthrow of the government".
"The competent Minister of Agriculture and Water Management, Vladimir Joković, who did not deal with this subject of his department during the three years of his mandate, is also satisfied, but left it to the non-competent Minister of Energy to conclude this inter-party deal, which is harmful for the country, but beneficial for the continued survival of his function. Mijović said.
According to him, by bypassing the BiH Council of Ministers, the Government of Montenegro accepted the argument of Republika Srpska that the state of BiH does not ask about its borders and transboundary waters and that it does not exist, as the Vučić government of Serbia had already done by signing the contract on the construction of HPP Buk Bijela without prior consent of the BiH Council of Ministers.
"Nevertheless, the biggest losers of this agreement are, as we are already used to from our rulers, the state and citizens of Montenegro who, due to this harmful and corrupt political arrangement, will not be able to achieve fair compensation for the use of their resources for a long time, to which they are entitled according to international conventions," he said. is Mujović.
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