Tenants of the building in Skerlićeva street in the center of Pljevlja, twenty days after they submitted a petition to the mayor Darius Vranes, have not yet received any response from the local administration to the request to relocate the city boiler house, located on the ground floor of their building, to another location, which is why they are also considering the possibility of filing a lawsuit.
Apart from the Municipality, the tenants did not receive an answer from the President of the State and the Government. Jakov Milatović i Milojko Spajić, the Ministry of Energy and Mining and the European Union office in Montenegro, to whom, as they claim, they also submitted a petition and pointed out the long-standing problems they are facing.
The tenants of the building where the city's heating plant is located are requesting the relocation of the boiler room to another location by September 1 at the latest.
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.
One of the tenants Marko Dajevic He told "Vijesta" that, if they do not receive an answer from the municipality and if the boiler house is not moved by the specified deadline, they will file lawsuits against those responsible in Grijanj and the Municipality, with which they will seek compensation for endangering the health of tenants and working without the necessary permits.
"The management of the municipality emphasizes that their citizens are their first priority. This is an excellent opportunity for them to show how much they really care about us citizens, or will they continue with the previous decades-long policy," said Dajević.
He points out that many tenants have fallen ill, and many young people have died of lung and cardiovascular diseases due to the negligence of former and current city and state authorities.
"We, the tenants of the building at Skerlićeva Street 31/35, are asking for the relocation of the municipal boiler house installed in our building. The reason we are asking for relocation is excessive pollution and the health risk of the tenants, especially small children. This boiler plant threatens the entire city center and burns over 2.000 tons of coal per season. An analysis of the center's soil by the Center for Ecotoxicological Research (CETI) showed excessive pollution. We are asking for the boiler house to be moved no later than September 1, 2024. The municipality has several completed projects for its relocation that will take two to three months. We hope that someone will help us and our children, who are most at risk and in the winter get suffocated by smoke and various fumes from the illegal heating plant. We also note that the boiler house has had a permanent work ban since 2019, brought by the Republic's thermal energy inspector", claims 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 CETI in its earlier tests.
In one of the reports, it is stated that the boiler house emitted powdery substances and carbon monoxide above the tolerance limit, i.e. the permitted excess of 250 percent.
It also says that the average half-hourly values of powdery substances were 502 micrograms per cubic meter, which is almost seventeen times higher than the prescribed limit values of 30 micrograms per cubic meter.
Sulfur dioxide was measured at a concentration of about 2.938 micrograms per cubic meter, which is almost three times the prescribed limit of 1000 micrograms. And the average half-hourly concentration of carbon monoxide was 990 micrograms per cubic meter, or more than six and a half times above the prescribed limit value of 150 micrograms.
An excess of nitrogen dioxide was also registered, as well as the average half-hourly value of arsenic...
Thermal energy inspector Slavko Burić permanently banned the use of the boiler room in 2011 due to endangering the safety and health of people, but that decision was revoked by the Administrative Court for procedural reasons.
He stated that an inspection of the area around the balcony and window openings of the building where the boiler house is located revealed a large presence of coal dust, fly ash and soot on the salt banks and window sills, despite the fact that they were additionally sealed with adhesive tapes and nylons.
The inspector forbade the work, then revoked the decision on the ban
In the company Grijanje, they claim that they are not prohibited from working, because after that decision, thermal energy inspector Miloš Kovačević issued a new decision allowing the work.
"Taking into account the fact that Article 27 of the Law was amended by Article 74 of the Amendment to the Law on Energy, in such a way that the activities of production, distribution and supply of heat energy for district heating can be carried out without a license, the inspector concludes that the reasons for it was forbidden to carry out the aforementioned activities in the commercial company Grijanje Pljevlja", Kovačević states in the minutes of the inspection from September 29, 2020.
Kovačević concludes that the boiler house in Skerlićeva Street meets the minimum technical conditions for operation and that it can be used in accordance with the regulations.
Previously, in April 2020, the thermal energy inspector issued a decision banning the operation of the boiler house in Skerlićeva until obtaining a license from the Energy Regulatory Agency.
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