Amer Jerlagic, former director of Elektroprivreda of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), believes that due to the indolent attitude of the authorities in the past ten years, the Federation of BiH (FBiH) is absolutely unprepared in the event of an interruption in gas supplies from Russia.
Namely, he stated that nothing has been done regarding gasification with the help of alternative sources and that the policy was conducted from day to day.
“What we did or what we did not do as a state to have an alternative and not an alternative that would be somewhere in the east, it does not matter what the stream is. Why we have not made a connection to the island of Krk in these ten or 15 years, merged towards Zagvozd, towards Imotski through the FBiH, where neither Dodik nor anyone else could cause us any problems and had a permanent alternative for supplying BiHthrough the island of Krk, “ told Jerlagic.
Jerlagic explains that after the crisis with the gas supply that occurred in 2009, the process of gasification began.
He stressed that we held our destiny in our hands and that we could not allow ourselves to depend only on Russian gas, Klix.ba writes.
“In the mandate of 2006-2010, the Ministry of Energy, Mining,and Industry of FBiH raised the issue of a large gas storage facility, underground. Unfortunately, one of the mayors in the FBiH with his ‘political‘ action, suppressed the project, and ‘Tetima‘, that is, the old salt mine near Tuzla, was not an option for building the gas storage. Whatever it may be, it could be used for a while, some bypass when we run out of gas,” claims Jerlagic.
Also, he noted that in such a short time, there is no alternative that could be provided until the next heating season.
“Absolutely no solution, the time is so short, the projects are so complex that there is no chance of finding an alternative solution,” explains Jerlagic.
The fastest solution, he explains, is the variant towards the island of Krk, because Croatia is operating by its border, but it is a project that has been going on for several years. Regarding the possible southern interconnection that would connect us to the TANAP gas pipeline, which carries gas from Azerbaijan, the authorities did nothing to finish it on time.
He said that there is no variant of alternative heating in Sarajevo in the event of a suspension of Russian gas. The electricity network would not be able to withstand the switch to heating with the help of electricity, and the bills would be many times higher.
“First of all, that electricity will be really expensive. We expect a rise in prices in households from January 1st, 2023, by at least 20 to 30 percent. Electricity prices are rising day by day and I think there is no economic basis to use electricity as a heating option for apartments and houses. “
To recall, on Wednesday, Russia suspended gas exports to Poland and Bulgaria. This has caused concern over the supply of BiH through the gas pipeline that runs through Bulgaria, but for now, those responsible claim that the supply of our country is not endangered.
E.Dz.
