The Acting Executive Director of the Budva Water Supply and Sewerage Mladen Lakčević denied the claims of the assistant director of that municipal company Đorđija Vujović, who asked the Deputy President of the Municipality Jasna Dokić to remove Lakčević and initiate proceedings against him, or else he will file a criminal complaint.
Vujović asserted that the first man of Vodovod threatened the public interest of water distribution through unscrupulous operations, which Lakčević denies and claims that he presented a series of incorrect information or semi-information and misled the public.
"The first item in Mr. Vujović's announcement concerns the interruption of water supply in the period from August 1 - September 8. 15.9, on the stretch from Prijevor to Petrovac, which is incorrect. It is true that there were more frequent problems with water supply in the form of pipeline and pump station failures for about ten days in the second half of August. Problems occurred along the stretch sometimes from Praskvica, and sometimes from Blizikuć, all the way to the Topliš reservoir, while Prijevor, Seoce, Svinjišta and Jaz did not have any problems with water supply at all, nor did the settlement of Komoševina. Petrovac also did not have any major problems, except for a couple of days during the failure of the primary pipeline, in the locality of Skočiđevojka, which the citizens were familiar with. "Even though they protested at that moment, the hoteliers were able to go to the site and see how demanding the malfunction was, and there are also work orders on repairing the malfunctions that confirm this," said Lakčević.
He announced that the Podgor pumping station is regularly maintained and operational, but that it is not the most important, nor will it be the primary station for the functioning of the system, because the Vodovod does not have primacy over the water from that source according to the contract, but can only use the overflow that is not taken over by the Cetinje Waterworks .
"We pump every available cubic meter from it in the summer, while in the winter we take as much as we need in the system. In the spring of Vrela - Podgor, the abundance drops significantly in the summer, the same can be seen in the reports from the previous year in the same period. This year, due to the drought, in the second half of August we only took a little over 30 liters per second. The capacity of the station is 230 l/s, not 200 l/s as stated in the announcement. I deny the allegations that the station has four pumps, there are five of them and none of them is flooded, nor is there any fear of working in that environment, which can also be easily checked at any time on the spot. In support of that, for example, we are currently receiving 100 l/s, which means that in this period two pumps are working, which meet the current needs".
Lakčević stated that "no one issued any orders to shut down any pumps during the summer", and that the problems that arose in the operation of the system were solved quickly, that they tried to solve the problems - malfunctions in the late evening hours, and not in the middle of the day, so that citizens and tourists do not suffer because of it.
"There is no need to divert water from CS Reževići, not to say that this allegation is completely absurd. Petrovac is supplied from two springs (Reževići and Buljarica) and additionally from the Regional Waterworks. The total quantities of water pumped into the system in the summer season of 2024 are higher compared to the previous year, so it is clear that smaller quantities of water were not delivered, as falsely stated in Mr. Vujović's statement. Every available cubic meter from our sources is pumped into the system. All available quantities were taken from the Regional Waterworks throughout the summer. The contract with the Regional Waterworks is such that all quantities of water are taken at the same price, and in fact we received less water from them compared to the previous year, and not more as stated by Mr. Vujović. This year was a dry year and the Regional Waterworks did not have additional quantities in a certain period, and that there was a great drought in the territory of the whole of Montenegro and that everyone was affected, it could be seen from the announcements of the Waterworks of Tivat, Kotor, H. Novi, Bar, Podgorica etc. Mr. Vujović held the position of deputy executive director for many years, and he certainly spent his working life in this company, so he should be better acquainted with the real situation and accurate data, and not publicly announce untruths. He certainly had the opportunity, given the function he performed, to give suggestions and proposals for better functioning of the Society at collegiums," he concludes.
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