“The strategic resource of Republika Srpska, its Elektroprivreda, is threatened by the fate of the Republika Srpska Forest and Railways. What the entire Republika Srpska could live on, the second most profitable company in 2023, is turning into a stumbling giant due to irresponsible and irrational business,” says SDS president Branko Blanuša, commenting on the fact that EPRS ended last year with a loss of 56 million BAM.
If it had a good host, the president of SDS points out, Republika Srpska could have lived off the export of electricity:
“In this way, from being the only exporter in the region, we became an importer, and the citizens are paying the price. While losses are piling up, millions are being spent on advertising in the media. The price of the regime’s arrogance, as always, is being paid by the citizens who, with each snowfall, are left without proper supplies and food in the freezers for several days, which they gathered during the summer with hard work, not to mention the damage suffered by the economy.”
Instead of public interest, the focus of EPRS business is private interest, which led to its collapse.
“They have been emptying the tank for two decades and now it has reached its bottom, and at that bottom RiTE Ugljevik has been destroyed, energy stability is threatened and citizens who were without heating in the winter because there is no coal in Ugljevik. We export coal, but there is none for our needs. Is this a more important interest of resellers than the interest of the people,” asks SDS president Branko Blanuša.
“The scariest thing of all is that we live in a society where no one is held accountable for it. Like criminals, those who steal a few kilowatts of electricity are arrested and prosecuted because they have nothing to pay for it, but those who robbed hundreds of millions from the energy sector are not touched,” he states.
Republika Srpska must finally become legal and just, says Blanuša and emphasizes:
“We lost hundreds of millions of marks due to Rašid Serdarov, the untimely reaching of an agreement with the Slovenians, throwing money into unnecessary media advertising, but also due to “going out to meet” certain electricity traders. For that money, we could have rehabilitated RiTE Ugljevik and today we would have energy stability. All these issues should be dealt with by the investigative authorities and they will be dealt with after October,” said Blanuša.
