Regarding the news that Comsar Energy has canceled all planned projects and investments in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to sell its concessions to Elektroprivreda RS at a dizzying price, the Center for Environment warns that this is a non-transparent type of trading in our goods in which the Government of the RS is obvious , and therefore citizens in indisputable loss.
Comsar Energy sells a concession and returns it to the public sector for a huge amount. Based on all of the above, we are wondering, why should we, as electricity consumers, pay for failures in planning this project? ” said Majda Ibraković, an assistant at the Energy and Climate Change Program at the Center for Environment.
In the annual report on the implementation of the concessions from 2018, The Concession Commission of the Republika Srpska clearly stated that the concessionaire did not fulfill its obligations and that low electricity prices disturb realization of the Ugljevik III project. Comsar then requested the extension of the concession from 30 to 45 years, together with a reduction in capacity from 600 MW to 350 MW, as the plant would otherwise be unprofitable.On the other side, the Center for the Environment has initiated a special procedure for filing complaints through the mechanism for resolving the disputes of the Energy Community.
At the end of 2018, this procedure resulted in the agreement of the Republika Srpska authorities do not use the existing environmental permit for Ugljevik III block.
In the other words, in order to continue the implementation of the new block project of the Ugljevik Thermal Power Plant, it is necessary to create a new study on the assessment of the impact on the environment, as well as other relevant documents, is required, which additionally slows the process of realization of the project.
“In the end, in the previous studies of the Center for Environment confirmed absolute economic, health, ecological and social inefficiency of mines and thermal power plants, and in this respect, the only correct move is the complete abolishment of concessions for thermal power plants,” said Majda Ibraković.
Although the thermal power plants are being abolished on a global scale, the government in Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to blindly believe and seem to be progressing with “coal-related projects” by subsidizing state-owned enterprises that suffer unrealistic losses in order to maintain unsustainable electricity prices and employment levels.