They demand that the government terminates contracts for small power plants

Members of the ruling majority in Mojkovac yesterday asked the Government of Montenegro to terminate the contracts related to the small hydropower plants (MHP) Bjelojevićka 1 and Bjelojevićka 2 on the watercourse of the same name.

They claim that these energy facilities "threaten the biodiversity and capacities of the river, which would later be used for artificial snowmaking and water supply for ski resorts".

"Considering the decisive fact that no hydrological study was done for the needs of the Žarski Ski Center, this represents a real problem of the opening of the ski resort due to the lack of water for its needs. In the case of the eventual start of operation of the MHE, there would be no possibility of water supply to ski centers, as well as the possibility of artificial snowmaking and the creation of an accumulation lake for the needs of the ski center", it is written in the explanation of the conclusion that will be sent to the government and the relevant ministry.

The ruling majority also claims that the construction of energy facilities calls into question the direction of travel for the ski resort, because the pipes from the energy facility are embedded in the road itself. They also assess that it is necessary to review the entire project for the construction of the HPP on the Bjelojevićka River.

"Given that the strategic commitment of the municipality of Mojkovac is the development of tourism, it is indisputable that the hydropower plant project would threaten the opening of the Ski Center Žarski, and the fact that the Government plans to terminate the contract with the concessionaire for the opening of the Brskovo mine, precisely in the context of environmental protection and tourism development we believe that it would be necessary for you to terminate this contract as well", it says in the conclusion.

At yesterday's meeting, the councilors reminded that the contracts for the HPP on the Bjelojevića River were signed, as they claim, "hastily" in October 2020, during the "technical" Government of the outgoing government. The concession for that watercourse was previously given to the consortium "Hydro Bjelojevićka", which consists of the company "Čelebić" from Podgorica, with a participation of 54 percent, football player Stefan Savic, with the participation of Črtiri and "Synergy", whose share is one percent. Respecting the provisions of the Concession Agreement, the concessionaire founded the concession company C&S Energy, and Savić later transferred his ownership share to Milica Fustic.

In the last weeks of its mandate, the DPS government signed an annex to the concession agreement with the companies that build the HPP. With this contract, state plots are made available to private companies for the realization of two MHPs.

In November of last year, the Protector of Property and Legal Relations submitted documentation on the devastation of the Bjelojevićka River to the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje in order to assess whether there are criminal acts that are being prosecuted ex officio.

In the opinion of the Protector, before submitting the information and concluding the annex, it was necessary to review all the concessionaire's activities, documentation and public interest, bearing in mind that the execution of works during the reconstruction of the Vragodo-Mojkovac section, in which MHE 1 and 2 were built, resulted in the devastation of the river ecosystem, as a consequence of the devastation of the environment, the destruction of the fish stock. It was also pointed out to the findings in the report of the Environmental Protection Agency commission for MHPs that are being built, and "what is visible and worrisome is that there is no built-in fish path and that one part of the watercourse is completely blocked by a stone aggregate."

Over the past years, the current vice-president of the Municipality has also requested the review of the annexes of the contract and the projects of the HPP several times. Ivan Ashanin. He warned that the construction of the HPP could threaten the ski resort project. These findings, together with a party colleague Boško Laketić he repeated yesterday.

Before leaving yesterday's session of the Council of Ministers, the councilors of the opposition Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) also said that by passing a conclusion demanding the termination of the concession contract, the ruling majority is honoring Savić. The football national team member was on the list of councilors of that party in the last elections. The authorities said that they appreciate everything that their fellow citizen has done for the national team, but that "his interest cannot come before the public".