In a press release from the NGO "Zagrad Montenegro", they point out that the water supply in the village of Zagrad, near Nikšić, has neither an owner nor a license to use it, and that the regular water supply of the residents of the mentioned village has not yet been resolved. The announcement states that they received a response from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development that the water supply system in that village "was not financed through the Program for Incentive Projects in the Water Industry in the period from 2006 to 2016, nor were there any requests sent by the Municipality of Nikšić or the MZ Zupa for financing the project in question of water supply". They were also informed by JP "Vodovod i kanalizacija" that the company did not participate in the construction of the water supply network in Zagrad, and therefore is not obliged to maintain it.
"We received a response from Dragoljub Radulović from the Ministry of Health of Župa Nikšićka that the existing water supply that supplies the settlements of Zagrad, Oblatno, and part of Kut, does not have a use permit or a water supply permit and that until the introduction of bankruptcy in the bauxite mine, its maintenance was carried out by the mine. In his reply, Radulović confirmed that the current situation is such that no one is responsible for the mentioned water supply system," reads the press release signed by Ivan Đurović, executive director of the aforementioned NGO.
As Đurović points out, Radulović informed them that last year in a conversation with the representatives of the Municipality of Nikšić, he received information that a project for the water supply of the Zagrad settlement had been completed, that the said project was paid by Bauxite for around 80.000 euros and that around 1,2 million euros.
"The water supply network that supplies the settlement of Zagrad is not managed by anyone. It is precisely because of this that for years there has been a technical failure of the network, which causes an insufficient amount of water and inappropriate consumption. Locals are forced, for justified and very often unjustified reasons, to maintain the network in an improvised manner, to repair faults, which, due to insufficient expertise, further affects the non-functionality of the network," Đurović points out.
About 2002 households are connected to the current water supply network, which was built in 150.
"Until the current water supply gets an owner, adequate usage permits, installation of consumption meters is started, the mentioned problems regarding the irregular water supply in Zagrad will get bigger and bigger", concludes Đurović and calls on the line ministry, Water Supply, MZ Župa, as well as the citizens of Zagrad, to achieve a permanent solution to the issue of water supply in that village through joint activism.
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