The Ugljevik Mine and Thermal Power Plant (RiTE) stops operating, i.e. supplying electricity, at midnight. The management announced this move earlier, with the explanation that the reason was the lack of coal and water. However, the problem is much deeper, which few want to talk about openly, while the economic consequences will be talked about, added up and analyzed.
Problems that have burdened the power plant for years
Almost 700 million marks in the past few years have been set aside for various disputes related to the Ugljevik Mine and Thermal Power Plant, from the well-known Serdarov case to the arbitration proceedings with the Slovenian Elektrogospodarstva. However, the power plant in Ugljevik has not worked more often in the last year. Tonight, at midnight, work is suspended again due to the lack of coal and unresolved property-legal relations. It is not known how long the stoppage will last, but it is assumed that it could last longer.
Director of RiTE Ugljevik Žarko Novaković explained that there are unresolved relations with the owners of certain properties, which makes it difficult to resolve property issues and continue exploitation.
“We have certain natural persons with construction facilities with unresolved family relationships. We have two such situations in which we cannot agree with the owners on the valuation of the property. Expropriation and purchase are not the transport of goods from Banja Luka to Ugljevik. Each individual situation cannot be calculated separately,” said Novaković.
Workers warn of a possible collapse
RiTE Ugljevik produces about a third of the electricity needed by RS. This year, there were several suspensions of work lasting several months, and according to the evaluations of the workers, the power plant worked for a total of only one month. They have been warning for a long time that there could be a collapse of the system from which huge funds have been allocated.
The employee of RiTE Ugljevik Jelenko Marinković believes that the problems will not be solved without a serious turn in the management and way of doing business.
“If certain funds had been secured in January, perhaps in the amount of up to 50 million marks, we would have already had a certain amount of coal that we can count on in order to ensure more or less stable work. However, there is no indication that this will happen. Why? Because someone, obviously, has no intention of enabling this company to continue operating, but wants it to shut down, that is, most likely to go into bankruptcy, after which a private person would come in and start coal exploitation,” warned Marinković.
Disputed coal exploitation and liability
The Ugljevik Istok 2 deposit largely includes private properties whose owners have been warning for years that their houses are threatened by the expansion of the mine. The contested concession for coal exploitation in this area was held by the Russian businessman Rašid Serdarov until the beginning of this year, and then it was bought by the RS.
The editor of the business portal Capital Siniša Vukelić raises the question of the responsibility of the authorities for the state of the power plant and warns of possible consequences for energy stability.
“If we’ve already given him 300 million marks, why isn’t the coal being mined? Why isn’t the director being replaced? Why isn’t the minister resigning? Why aren’t extraordinary press conferences being called? Luka Petrović, director of Elektroprivreda, should explain whether the entire energy stability of RS is in question and whether we are entering the winter with such low electricity production,” said Vukelic.
Authorities without response
In recent days, representatives of the management of Elektroprivreda, nor the line ministry, have not announced anything about this problem. They didn’t even answer our calls.
Yesterday, however, the Ministry announced that representatives met with representatives of the Japanese Agency for International Cooperation, with whom they discussed the stable operation of RiTE Ugljevik and the flue gas desulfurization plant, which was paid for with a loan of 80 million euros for the power plant, which is now offline.
