September 15th is the deadline by which the Pljeval municipal company Grijanje should take appropriate technical measures to reduce the pollution emitted from the boiler house in Skerlićeva Street, because otherwise the environmental inspection will prohibit its operation.
This is stated in the answer that environmental inspector Velibor Kljajević delivered a few months ago to Marko Dajović, one of the tenants of the building in Skerlićeva street where the city's heating plant is located. The tenants asked for an environmental inspector to move the boiler house to another location due to the large amount of pollution it emits.
"According to the previously submitted initiatives, the ecological inspection has already carried out inspection supervision in the boiler house and ordered measures aimed at eliminating irregularities. Namely, the ecological inspection issued a decision ordering d.o.o. Grijanje to take appropriate technical measures at the boiler plant in Skerlićeva Street in order to reduce dangerous and of polluting substances and after that perform new measurements and submit them to the environmental inspection for review as well as a decision ordering him to obtain a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency on permitted emissions of polluting substances in the air for the performance of activities of production and delivery of thermal energy. The deadline for both decisions to take measures is set for September 15, 9. If the ordered measures are not followed, the environmental inspection will ban the operation of the mentioned boiler house", states the response of the environmental inspector Velibor Kljajević.
Apartments and business premises in the city center are heated from the boiler house in Skerlićeva, which is designated as one of the biggest air polluters in Pljevlja.
Director of Heating Vlade Tošić told the news that in accordance with the contract concluded between the Administration for Capital Projects and the Municipality of Pljevlja on the implementation of the program for the implementation of measures to reduce pollution and the heating of Pljevlja, they announced a tender for the adaptation of the flue gas dust removal system, i.e. the replacement of multicyclone and centrifugal fans, which would improved the combustion process, and thus reduce polluting - powdery substances.
"The tender ends on September 12, so I hope that by the beginning of the heating season we will be able to finish installing them. During the conversation, experts also suggested installing a bag filter outside the boiler room. There are certain funds for the installation of the filter, but the only problem is the deadlines for obtaining the building permit and environmental protection report, because the funds must be spent by the end of December 2024. The installation of a bag filter would solve the long-standing problem of Kotlarnica in Skerlićeva Street", said Tošić.
Dajević believes that those responsible in Grijanje will enter the zone of criminal responsibility if they continue to work, and the inspection prohibits them from working.
He also claims that they were never able to get an emissions permit and a use permit, and that the entire operation of the boiler house is irregular.
"They will also have lawsuits from us in which we will demand large compensations. They didn't even deign to address the public about all of this," said Dajević.
In April, the tenants of the building in Skerlićeva submitted a petition to the president of the municipality of Pljevlja, Dario Vraneš, requesting that the city's boiler house be moved by September 1. In addition to Vraneš, they also sent the petition to the presidents of the state and government of Montenegro, the Ministry of Energy and Mining, and the European Union office in Montenegro. It's burning.
In their explanation, they stated that they are exposed to excessive pollution from the low chimney of the boiler house, which is attached to the building, and that the health of the tenants, especially children, is at risk.
They also point out that the boiler house is not only a threat to them, but also to the entire city center, considering that, during the heating season, about two thousand tons of coal are exposed to it annually.
Dajević told Vijest that the tenants still stand by the demand that the boiler house be moved or shut down.
"They offered us to sign an agreement to invest 200.000 euros and build a new chimney and multicyclones, but we refused. On the other hand, this heating is unprofitable, because heating with air conditioners is five times cheaper. "For a 70-square-meter apartment at the new prices, you need about one thousand euros per season, with the fact that the heating quality is poor, and for air conditioning from 200 to 250 euros per season," said Dajević.
He says that users of Grijanje are not allowed to disconnect from the network and switch to other types of heating.
"Some users in other buildings submitted a request to be disconnected from the network, but they refused," said Dajević.
The boiler house in Skerlićeva Street is one of the biggest air polluters in the city, and the tenants of the surrounding buildings have repeatedly announced that they will file a lawsuit against the Municipality and the company "Grijanje" if they do not solve the problem of enormous pollution.
About 350 apartments and a large number of business premises in the city center are heated from the boiler house in Skerlićeva Street, for which, in 16 hours of work, about 11,5 tons of coal are consumed daily.
The burning of huge amounts of coal leads to enormous air pollution, and some values are 27 times higher than allowed, as stated by the Center for Ecotoxicological Research (CETI) in its earlier tests.
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