The President of the Board of Directors of Rudnik Pljevlja Coal Mine, Milan Lekić, says that the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) is attacking him because he will never forgive him for not allowing the shutdown of that company.
"Public controversy with the DPS, on many topics, marked the last few decades of my professional and political career. However, in the previous few years, more precisely since I took the position of executive director of Rudnik uglja AD Pljevlja in April 2021, so until today, when I am the president of the board of directors of the most important company in Montenegro, the behavior of this political organization goes beyond the usual public polemics and enters an unprecedented hysteria and an attempt at a media frenzy that we have not seen before Fortunately for the opposition party, he did not deal with Milan Lekić and Rudnik ulja, which is why I rightly suspected that there is some form of obsession in their behavior To the coal mine, I claim with full legal and material responsibility that DPS is the gravedigger of our company and the entire energy sector," said Lekić.
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This is evidenced, as he said, by "exact data and irrefutable facts" that point to only one thing - that DPS "tried with all its might to shut down the Coal Mine, displaced Pljevlja and brought Montenegro into complete energy dependence".
"When the Government of Montenegro, led by Duško Marković, committed to the European Energy Community (EEA) that the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant (TEP) would work for another 20.000 working hours in the period from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2023, i.e. that reduce the work capacity to 48% compared to the regular annual work of about 7.000 hours, the public did not expect that DPS would try to fight for the extension of the use of fossil fuels (in the specific case of coal) for the production of electricity, bearing in mind their absolute servility and The extent of their irresponsibility is best shown by the fact that, when they realized that the loss of power was only a matter of time, in 2020 they also spent the remaining 7.194 hours of TEP work, thus violating their international obligation to the EEC and leaving the new government with the obligation to close the TEP," Lekić insists.
Thus, he reminds, the European Environmental Agency announced that TEP used up the allowed limit in 2020, making it the first coal-fired power plant in the region to use up its limit.
In parallel with this, he adds, DPS reduced the number of workers at the Coal Mine and Thermal Power Plant.
"When I took over the responsibility of the executive director, I found about 750 workers, the average age of which was over 50 years old. I found neglected machinery, empty warehouses and the rough deposit of the 'Potrlica' surface mine. For years, we have recorded terrible realization on the overburden. For example, in 2017, exploited is only 4.564.678 m3 of overburden. The workers could not use the annual vacations. The land was not recultivated, and no one cared about the environment. Add to that the unbearable political pressure in the company lack of work ethic among many, we conclude that everything was ready for the company's shutdown," Lekić said.
He also said that "it was not easy to restore the glory and reputation of the Coal Mine".
"In the previous two years, we invested about 25 million euros for the purchase of machinery and equipment, significantly rejuvenated the team, started new activities, started land reclamation, opened new markets, achieved a record exploitation of overburden, which in 2023 amounted to as much as 9.220.845 m3cm - therefore, more than twice as compared to some previous years, introduced the company into legal business, which is a fact that competent state authorities can confirm at any time," he states.
He points out that the company ended the previous year with a record net profit of more than 15 million euros, "which is a huge success, bearing in mind that, not so long ago, due to DPS's famous concern for the Coal Mine, we were making accumulated net losses, so for example, in 2009, a net loss was realized in the amount of almost 13 million euros".
"Rječju, saved the Coal Mine, prevented the displacement of the population from the municipality that records the worst demographic indicators in Montenegro, improved production, enabled the energy stability and independence of the state of Montenegro, showed great interest and readiness for the realization of a historical investment such as the construction of a factory for the production of cement , and so much more. That's why, dear citizens of Montenegro, DPS is kidding about Rudnik uljja. This company is a mirror of their indolence, negligence and crime, but also the image and opportunity of our relationship with the foundation of the industrial production and the backbone of Montenegro's energy sector." Lekic.
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