Even after four months, the Montenegrin government has not received an official response from its colleagues from Albania regarding the construction of small hydroelectric power plants (MHP) on the part of the Cijevna river in that country. The Albanian department in charge of hydropower projects has in the meantime changed the management policy of that sector and will request a ban on the construction and revision of the plans for the started HPP, but it is not known whether the MHP plan for Cijevna is among those plans.
The Center for the Protection and Study of Birds (CZIP) and "Vijesti" published at the beginning of October information about the started and planned projects in Albania for the construction of a hydropower plant on a part of the Cijevna stream in that country.
Only after that announcement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, on behalf of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, asked their Albanian colleagues for documentation on the projects on the river whose waters are shared by the two countries.
Since Montenegro and Albania are signatories to the ESPOO Convention on Transboundary Impacts on the Environment, MORT contacted the ESPOO Secretariat about the request to Albania to make available relevant documentation to Montenegro.
"On January 22.01.2019, XNUMX we received information that our request is being considered by the Implementation Committee of the Convention, which will contact Montenegro regarding this issue," said the department.
From that department, they also state that they have contacted colleagues in Albania twice so far, through diplomatic channels.
"...MORT sent an official request to provide Montenegro with all relevant information and documentation, in the context of the environmental impact assessment for the plan for the potential construction of the MHP on the Cijevna River from the Albanian side, in accordance with Article 4 of the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in in the cross-border context - the Espoo Convention, in order to implement a further procedure for the exchange of cross-border information", said the department headed by Pavle Radulović. Albania, they add, has not yet submitted the requested documentation.
The new Albanian Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Belinda Balluku, who took office two weeks ago, announced that she would stop the construction of new HPPs and launch an investigation into 182 permits issued for the construction of 440 plants.
In the department of Pavel Radulović, they do not yet have information on whether the MHE on Cijevna is among the disputed permits and planned projects.
"We will wait a few more days to see if the individual list of facilities to which the decision refers will be published, and if this does not happen, in order to obtain information that may be of importance for the Cijevna River, we will send a request through diplomatic channels through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Albanian foreign", they told "Vijesti" from that department.
And while the two countries are "corresponding", from the Center for the Protection and Study of Birds, they unofficially state that there is still construction on that river in Albania and that the destruction of the area is progressing.
According to earlier announcements, Albania plans to build 14 mHP at Cijevna.
Together they will find a solution
From the MORT they also state that from the beginning of October last year to the end of January this year, diplomatic and technical communication was carried out with the competent Albanian institutions: "In which it was pointed out that in the spirit of good neighborly relations we will agree on a position regarding the sustainable management of this common water resource" .
The governments of Montenegro and Albania signed the framework agreement on transboundary water management in July last year, but the first meeting of the water commission, which is coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, was held only in mid-December, two months after the issue of the construction of MHP in Albanian was open in the media. part of Cijevna. At that meeting, it was proposed that the Montenegrin and Albanian commissions meet as soon as possible:
"At the commission meeting, it was concluded that a joint meeting of our and the Albanian commission should be initiated as soon as possible, in order to intensify the work on solving common issues, not only the Cjevna river, but also all other issues related to water management relations, of interest for the two states," said MORT, without providing details on whether the meeting had taken place in the meantime.
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