The only neighbor with which Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has no unresolved border issues is Montenegro. Proof of this is that Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro are the only countries created on the territory of the former SFRY that have signed an agreement on the border line. However, the claim that Bosnian-Herzegovinian and Montenegrin politicians like to repeat for years that there are no mutual unresolved issues is simply not true. The problem is called Bileć Lake, writes the Sarajevo media Oslobođenje.
Futile attempts
For many years in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it has been talked about how Serbia owes Bosnia and Herzegovina a large amount, even five billion euros are mentioned, due to the use of water from Zvornik and Perućac lakes for the needs of the Zvornik and Bajina Bašta hydroelectric plants.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is demanding money due to the fact that Serbia keeps all the produced electricity for itself, and in addition does not pay compensation for submerged land to the municipalities of Zvornik, Višegrad, Srebrenica and Rogatica, in whose areas these lakes are located.
It is also said that Croatia does not pay compensation for submerged land to the municipalities of Livno and Tomislavgrad due to the Buško lake reservoir, from which it uses water for the needs of the Orlovac hydroelectric plant. And in this case, we are talking about millions of euros. The problem is that Croatia would pay compensation according to the amount of electricity produced, while Livno and Tomislavgrad demand that the amount of compensation be calculated according to the number of flooded square meters of land. The rationale used by the municipalities from Bosnia and Herzegovina in this dispute is that the land is flooded regardless of whether the Orlovac HPP produces electricity or not. But there is no money regardless of the law passed in the FBiH Parliament, writes the text of the Liberation.
What BiH in these examples is asking from Serbia and Croatia, Montenegro, more precisely the Municipality of Nikšić has been asking from BiH since 2003. Namely, Lake Bilećko, which was created for the needs of four hydropower plants on the Trebišnjica River, is partly located on the territory of Montenegro, that is, in the municipality of Nikšić.
For more than 20 years, Montenegro has been trying to agree with Elektroprivreda Republika Srpska (ERS) on the payment of money. ERS independently manages three hydroelectric power plants on Trebišnjica, while the fourth one, HPP Dubrovnik, is jointly managed with Hrvatska elektroprivreda. However, the efforts of the competent Montenegrin institutions so far have been unsuccessful.
"It is estimated that the area of the Bileć lake basin belongs to Montenegro is about 40 percent. The volume of the reservoir belonging to Montenegro is 24 percent of the total Bileć reservoir. This data is the result of a sub-sector study from 2005, which was done for the needs of the Government of Montenegro experts from the Government and the University of Montenegro, and where the criterion of "the size of the volume share of the total water potential from the territory of Montenegro" was correctly applied, told Oslobođenje from the Ministry of Energy and Mining of Montenegro, explaining the arguments on the basis of which they are requesting money from BiH, more precisely from ERS.
They add that Montenegro did not participate in the construction of hydroelectric power plants, but its representative at the time, during the conclusion of the agreement between the former republics, retained the right to subsequently declare about the protection of interests.
They also noted that until 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina regularly paid compensation for subdivided land.
However, even Montenegro does not have precise data on how much money it actually demands from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"There are no precise estimates of how many funds or, rather, the kilowatt hours of electricity produced, because there is no agreement of all parties as to how much belongs to Montenegro. According to the orientation data of the study of Elektroprojekt Ljubljana, Montenegro lost five billion kilowatt hours, and according to the data of Energoprojekt- Three billion kilowatt-hours of hydro-engineering were lost," emphasized the Ministry of Energy and Mining of Montenegro, adding that the final amount should be established within the negotiations on the settlement of this debt.
Neither the current director of ERS Luka Petrović, judging by his statement for Oslobođenje, nor his predecessors, is too inclined to settle this debt.
"We had contacts with the Electric Power Company of Montenegro, as well as with the Municipality of Nikšić. It is a complex topic that requires discussion. However, our proposal is to turn to the future, not the past. We believe that all deadlines for the ban on the construction of the new Buk Bijela hydroelectric plant. We think that all necessary permits should be issued as soon as possible, of course with respect to all standards in the field of environmental protection. The construction of this hydroelectric plant would be a good basis for building future good-neighborly relations between the Republic of Srpska and Montenegro, from which both would benefit a lot," Petrović said.
Potentials of Trebišnjica
He doesn't even have estimates of how much money Montenegro could claim.
"It's a complex issue. It's known how it all worked before the war. It could work that way even now, but it's necessary to agree on a way to calculate it. I repeat, I think it's better and more necessary to talk about future projects and building future relations, rather than constantly returning to the past," Petrović added.
On the Montenegrin side, they believe that the final solution is the easiest to achieve through discussion. However, they do not shy away from forced problem solving either.
"Our intention is to reach a tripartite agreement between BiH, that is, the RS, the Republic of Croatia and Montenegro on the division and use of the hydropower potential of Trebišnjica, so that each country gets what it is entitled to according to international law. The international court is the last and most undesirable scenario," they said. are from the Ministry of Energy and Mining of Montenegro.
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