Will the devastation of Kaludarska be prevented?

During the year and a half mandate, the former government terminated ten concession contracts for the construction of small hydropower plants, due to non-compliance with the obligations of the concessionaires, but among them is not the one on the Kaludarska river in Beran, where the company Hidroenergija Montenegro is the owner.

Environmentalists say they are not satisfied with what has been done in this area and claim that more could and should have been done.

They remind that as many as twenty-five active concession contracts and two energy permits for reconstruction are still being implemented.

Apart from the Kaludarska River in Berane, the construction of the remaining HPPs is planned, among others, on the Bjelojevićka and Štitarica watercourses.

Thus, the promise of former Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić from his exposé at the beginning of his mandate, when he very clearly announced that the Government headed by him will audit and review all concession contracts, and make a declaration on the permanent ban on the construction of small power plants on Montenegrin watercourses, was not fulfilled.

When it comes to the Kaludarska river in Berane, it should be remembered that the government kidnapped Prime Minister Duško Marković and just ten days before the vote on the new government, authorized the then outgoing Minister of Economy Dragica Sekulić to sign the contract, i.e. changes to the concession contract, with the company Hidroenergija Montenegro for the construction of small hydroelectric power plants (mHE) on the watercourse.

The company Hidroenergija Montenegro is the owner of eight MHPs, of which seven have the status of privileged producer, which enables them to purchase every kilowatt-hour produced in those facilities at a subsidized price, which is significantly higher than the market price.

In the end, citizens continue to pay the incentive price of electricity through their electricity bills.

In the village of Kaludra, they now say that the owners of Hidroenergija Montenegro promised hills and valleys, but that the local population saw that nothing would come of it.

"We have the example of the neighboring village of Šekular, where the nature has been completely devastated and a great deal of environmental damage has been done, and the locals have no benefit whatsoever. It is clear to us that it is only about enriching a few people who are the owners of that company" - say the locals.

According to them, no one from the local population is employed in Šekular, who has not already resolved their employment status.

"They also told us that they would employ people, that they would reduce unemployment. And we know very well how they did it with the neighbors. There, they employed as guards only a few pensioners or younger people who have a regulated disabled status at the labor office and that issue was resolved, so they do not have to insure them. Therefore, only those who are otherwise idle, so they work for them out of boredom" - claim the residents of the village of Kaludra.

The owners of Hidroenergija Montenegro are Oleg Obradović and Ranko Radović. Obradović through Hemera has a 40 percent share, and Radović a 60 percent share. Radović bought those 60 percent shares from Ranko Ubović and Aleksandar Mijajlović, the unofficial owners of the Bemaks company. Before that, he was their executive director at Hidroenergia Montenegro.

The media previously reported that Hidroenergia's plan is to build a total of 13 mini hydropower plants in the Beran municipality, and the value of the investment is 28 million euros. Then it was announced that "Hidroenergija Montenegro" had received concessions for 27 years. All locations are in the Lima basin. Five in the area of ​​the Šekularska river, and as many as eight in Bistrica, Beran.

Then it became known that as many as seven small power plants on the watercourse of the Kaludar River were subsequently included in that plan.

"That would practically put the entire river in pipes. The water intake of the last hydroelectric power plant would be near the Čelije monastery, and the mechanical plant down by Djevojački krš. There is state land everywhere on that stretch, and that's why they thought it would be easy for them. Of course we wouldn't allow that either. Our monastery is there and its surroundings would be devastated" - say the Ministry of Health of Kaludra.

Hidroenergija Montenegro previously completely devastated the bed of the Šekularska river, and then the Bistrica river in Beran.

Through the canyon of this second river, Bistrica, passes a new regional road from Beran to Kolašin, in the body of which the company Bemax, which carried out the work at state expense, installed kilometers of pipes for the needs of small power plants. That was back in the day when the water pipes were damaged with explosives and thousands of citizens of Beran were poisoned.

That's why no one ever answered. There were some disputes in the Basic Court in Berane, but they ended with acquittals due to the alleged lack of evidence.

Hiodroenergija Montenegero is now not giving up on the construction of small hydroelectric power plants on the Kaludarska river, which, in addition to the local population, is especially protested by small entrepreneurs who are building ethnic settlements and catering establishments in the canyon of this beautiful mountain river.

Municipalities were never registered as owners

The company "Hidoenergija Montenegro" was founded precisely in Berane in the fall of 2007, while DPS was in power in this northern municipality. Namely, then, businessman Oleg Obradović came to his hometown and through the company "Hamera Capital" made an agreement with three municipalities in the north-east of Montenegro on granting concessions for the construction of small hydroelectric power plants in their territories, offering them in return a share of shares in the joint company.

Later, however, it turned out that, according to the review in the Central Register of Business Entities, the Municipality of Berane, as well as the other two municipalities, Andrijevica and Plav, were never registered as owners of Hidroenergija Montenegro.

These three municipalities were supposed to be the owners of ten percent of the shares, and to share that "cake" proportionally to the participation and number of hydropower plants in their territory, but in the end, they were left with nothing due to never-explained acrobatics in the Central Registry of Business Entities. The State Prosecutor's Office has never dealt with this, to put it mildly, dubious business.