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100 million Euros for the Ugar hydropower plant

Date: March 2^nd 2010 Author: Mirsad Bajtarević, Sarajevo Category: Articles
Topic: Electricity , RES and EE

Both entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina should allocate the 100 million Euros provided by the European Commission to the construction of a hydropower plant on the river Ugar. Bosnian and Herzegovinian media report, quoting federal Prime Minister Mustafa Mujezinovic that the government of Federation BiH plans to propose this to the government of Republika Srpska.

Mujezinovic is convinced that this sort of idea could come to life despite considerable disagreements regarding the construction of the hydropower plant in question. He said that the 100 million Euros which the European Commission planned to grant to Bosnia and Herzegovina should represent solid seed capital for the implementation of projects which bore significance not only for Federation BiH but also for the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina.

PHOTO: Alenka Žumbar

In the past, they had discussed the construction of the Ugar hydropower plant with the representatives of the government of Republika Srpska, Mujezinovic said, adding that they were aware that the project was complex and slow. However, he believes that the two entities have to reach an agreement on projects which are of importance for the whole country. Yet before they started signing any deals with the representatives of the government of Republika Srpska, they would wait until Director and Board Members of Elektroprijenos BiH were selected, Mujezinovic added.

It appears that discussions between the representatives of the two entities’ governments concerning joint construction of the Ugar hydropower plant came to a halt, as the two parties were unable to agree on the seat of the management. Representatives of Republika Srpska insisted on Knezevo – Skender Vakuf, while those of Federation BiH argued that the seat should be at Jajce.

Moreover, the government of Federation BiH adopted a decision that the entire procedure pertaining to the construction of three power facilities on the river Ugar would be defined within a special Act, agreed upon and signed by the governments of both entities.

Stipo Buljan, Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining of the Federation BiH believes that the joint project of building the Ugar hydropower plant could in fact be carried out. He also said that the representatives of Federation BiH did not mind if the seat of the prospective hydropower facility was in Republika Srpska.

According to him, it is urgent to release the 75 million Euros which are gathered on the bank account of Elektroprijenos BiH and to appoint a Director and Board Members of the new company. Only when trust was established within Elektroprijenos BiH, they could undertake building the Ugar hydropower plant, Buljan added.

He further said that a module should be prepared, which would determine to what extent value added tax applied to Republika Srpska and that the surplus of the respective tax should be transferred to Federation BiH, of which they had already informed the line ministry in Republika Srpska.

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