Commercial Court Judge Marija Adžić will issue a verdict within a month in the dispute that the company "BB Hidro" (BBH) is leading against the state, based on compensation for damages and lost profits of 1,65 million euros for the construction of the small hydroelectric power plant (SHP) "Slatina" on the Kolašin river of the same name.
This is the epilogue of the hearing held yesterday at the Commercial Court.
"BBH is seeking payment of 1,41 million euros in lost profits, 168,51 thousand euros in ordinary damages, and 79,41 thousand euros in interest calculated in the expert's findings and opinion."
The BBH company, owned by Ivan Burzanović and Blažo Đukanović, son of former President Milo Đukanović, is seeking compensation for damages and lost profits from the state, because they were prevented from building the small hydroelectric power plant (SHP) "Slatina" despite being issued an energy permit for it under a concession agreement from 2017.
BBH is demanding in its lawsuit that the court determine that the concession agreement for the Saltina small hydropower plant from 2017 has been terminated, but also that the state pay them 1,41 million euros for lost profits, 168,51 thousand euros with default interest for ordinary damages, as well as 79,41 thousand for interest calculated in the expert's findings and opinion and other costs...
In her closing statement, BBH lawyer Milja Đuranović asked the court to accept the lawsuit, while the deputy protector of the state's property and legal interests, Radomirka Raičević, asked that it be rejected as unfounded.
Raičević also referred to the Government's conclusion from October last year with information on activities in the implementation of renewable energy projects, and emphasized that she was informed that this conclusion had been repealed, because it was published without explanation and a complete review of the situation.
Lawyer for “BBH” Ana Đukanović, sister of the former president of the country, added that this confirms that the Government is irresponsible and that the fact that it has destroyed a large number of projects for small hydropower plants is in favor of this company. Raičević pointed out that these allegations are not true, but that this is a responsible and full-fledged Government. Đukanović emphasized that she remains of the opinion that the Government was irresponsible in the decisions for small hydropower plants.
Lawyer Đuranović emphasized that the Government's conclusion can be accepted as undisputed, but also as irrelevant to the dispute.
The BBH company believes that the state has damaged them, because in 2021 the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism (MEPU) rejected their appeal, i.e. confirmed the decision of the urban planning and construction inspector who terminated the approval procedure for the construction of the small hydropower plant.
In May 2015, BBH requested the then Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism to obtain urban planning and technical conditions (UTU) for the construction of a small hydropower plant. The ministry, then headed by Branimir Gvozdenović, rejected their requests, explaining that no hydrological research had been conducted for the Slatina River watercourse, emphasizing that a location study was necessary. In early 2017, BBH again submitted requests for UTU, which were subsequently issued.
Duško Marković's government then made a decision to determine the public interest in the expropriation of real estate for the construction of the "Slatina" HPP, which stipulated that the Real Estate Administration would expropriate 600 square meters of land owned by local families in the cadastral municipality of Raško - Mioska and thereby enable the realization of the project.
In December 2020, BBH submitted an application to the urban planning and construction inspection for the construction of "Slatina", after which the inspector stopped the verification process of the submitted construction application with the explanation that the work group is waiting for the completion of the procedure control procedure and the legality of the concluded concession contracts for small hydropower plants formed at the Ministry of Capital Investments.
In May of the same year, MEPU, headed by Ratko Mitrović, rejected BBH's appeal and confirmed the decision of the urban planning and construction inspector. In mid-January 2021, the government of Zdravko Krivokapić gave its consent to suspend the procedure for approving the construction of small hydropower plants, including "Slatina".
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