”Life has stopped in the Neretva River,” this is how ecologists and locals describe this river in the south of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), which received a white-gray color due to the construction of the “Ulog” hydroelectric plant in Kalinovik Municipality.
“It hasn’t rained these days, the cloudiness of the river is due to those who are doing construction, the color of the Neretva has been constantly changing in recent days, one day it was red, then brown, and yesterday it was grey,” it was said yesterday byEmin Hebibovic, a local resident who lives about twenty kilometers from places where hydroelectric power plants are being built.
Environmental associations warn that due to pollution in the part of the Neretva through the Republika Srpska (RS) entity, fish kills have also been recorded.
This is indicated by the Ministry of the Environment of the second BiH entity of the Federation of BiH (FBiH), stating that the pollution of the Neretva river in the upper course is caused by silt, which affects the extinction of indigenous fish species.
The investor, the EFT company owned by Vuk Hamovic, did not want to comment on the pollution of the Neretva and the death of fish. They told that “they are in the process of an extraordinary inspection control”, without specifying what it was about.
It is important to mention that the upper course of the Neretva, where the hydroelectric power plant is being built, is rich in endemic fish species such as Adriatic trout, which are sensitive to changes in water quality in that part.
Reactions of other municipalities through which the Neretva flows
The mayor of Konjic, Osman Catic, said that the city tried several times to react to the construction of the “Ulog” hydroelectric plant.
He adds that Konjic will suffer significant damage, especially in terms of the development of eco-tourism.
Namely, in 2020, several domestic and international non-governmental organizations submitted a complaint against BiHto the Secretariat of the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats at the Council of Europe.
One of the recommendations of the Secretariat of the Bern Convention from 2022 to the authorities of BiH was to stop its construction. To date, that recommendation has not been followed, Slobodna Evropa reports.
photo: archive
E.Dz.
