Several hundred residents of the Fojnica local communities of Gojevići and Bakovići organized in order to prevent the construction of SHPPs on Željeznica river. 325 days (and nights) they spent guarding the Gotuša site. Željeznica River is free! The concession agreement concluded by the Fojnica Municipality with the Cantonal Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry was terminated. The river canyon is known as Gotuša, so the Association, which was founded in 2013, was named after the canyon. President of the Ecological-Humanitarian Association Gotuša and since December 31 the main coordinator of the Coalition for the Protection of Rivers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Robert Oroz for AbrašMEDIA portal talks about environmental activism, resistance and legal struggle to preserve rivers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the destruction of riverbeds, resulting in micro-climate change, usurpation of natural habitats of plant and animal species.
Interviewed by: Aldina Lipovac-Jandrić, AbrašMEDIA
Mr. Oroz, you are the president of the Ecological-Humanitarian Association Gotuša, can you present your Association to our readers?
Eko Gotuša was founded on March 9, 2013 during the blockade of the beginning of works on the construction of SHPP Luka, on the river Željeznica in the Fojnica Municipality. The founding assembly was held in an improvised building in which we were on duty 325 days and nights continuously, in front of the digger, not allowing it to enter the riverbed. The canyon of the river is known as Gotuša, which is why we named the association. Namely, at this location we even managed to block the start of works twice, 2009/2010 and 2012/2013. Until today, we have been dealing with this issue in Bosnia and Herzegovina and we are trying to tell the truth about SHPP to everyone.
Environmental associations and organizations have joined forces in a regional alliance called “Let’s defend the rivers of the Balkans”, which clearly shows how important the environmental issue is. In your opinion, can this type of association give good results when it comes to the fight for water, since the Alliance aims to protect water as the most important common good!?
We are aware that on the other hand we have a very powerful opponent and that there is a lot of money in this business. Because of that, it is clear to us that only together we can achieve something in this fight against the evil of today. Associations from Bosnia and Herzegovina that have similar problems and interests joined forces in 2016 and founded the “Coalition for the Protection of Rivers of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, and then this year the regional alliance “Let’s defend the rivers of the Balkans”, trying to act together and be stronger. Within these alliances, we share experiences, resources and knowledge and help each other. SHPPs are currently the most striking, but not the only, threat to Balkan waters, as drinking water sources, riverbanks and lakes are being privatized and usurped, water supply networks are being neglected and watercourses are polluted in various ways.
The construction of HPP Bistrica near Foča is starting. The investor and the contractor are on the field, and the preparatory works will start in fifteen days. The destruction of rivers does not stop, we are witnessing damage caused by construction on the rivers Bila, Željeznica, Doljanka, Jezernica, Ugar… Can activists save Bistrica, since investors claim that a building permit has been provided, a concession agreement was signed with the Government of Republika Srpska and according to the study that was done, it is predicted that all three hydroelectric power plants near Foča will be active in four years at the latest!?
This is just another proof that all these documents adopted at various levels of government are just there to buy time for investors. It is clear that politicians, no matter how much they convince us that we are right and that our fight is right, still prefer investors’ money. Several times so far, there have been plays about laying the foundation for construction, and in the end, there will be nothing from the construction, as in the case of HPP Vranduk. From the very beginning, various manipulations have been going on around this project.
We remind you that the Republika Srpska first sold the company of the hydroelectric power plant “Bistrica” d.o.o. company to “Caldera company” Milenko Čičić for 6.8 million BAM, and then 11 years later bought it for as much as 21.6 million BAM. We will see what happens next.
For many NGOs, hydropower plants on the Ugar River are an environmental disaster and a crime against nature. According to experts, the lack of water in the riverbed affects the change of micro-climate, usurpation of natural habitats and changes in humidity, which results in the destruction of indigenous and the settlement of invasive and aggressive species. Indigenous species that are being destroyed in these areas are often endemic or even relict. This is not the first time in our country that such species are endangered by the construction of hydro power plants. In the Sutjeska National Park, several endemic plant species are endangered, then the Balkan chamois… How much protection of certain areas and rivers would be necessary, because if construction continues on rivers, similar situation will happen to our other rivers where construction is planned?
We have repeated many times so far that almost all our rivers are endangered, that they have long ago gave away everything to different “party favorites”, and that we will be left with only those that we manage to take away from them. During the construction of the SHPP on Ugar River, a number of laws were violated. First of all, the two SHPPs Novakovići and Zapeće are located on the Ugar River, the natural border between the two entities. The investor – the company Interenergo (through the Banja Luka branch of EHE), a branch of the Austrian company Kelag, received permits from the institutions of the Republika Srpska. Given that they are located at the entity border, permits had to be issued at the state level, which did not happen. The situation is not much better with the construction of two new ones in the Federation, namely SHPP Oštrac and SHPP Koričanske stijene.
Namely, the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction, Environmental Protection, Return and Housing of the Central Bosnia Canton has issued to the investor V.N.T d.o.o. Novi Travnik (now Jajce) a legally questionable building permit for the small hydroelectric power plant “Oštrac” on the river Ugar. The investor has been carrying out works on the construction of its small hydropower plant for a long time on the basis of a construction permit from 2019, which does not meet the conditions prescribed by law. According to the official decision of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining, it is stated that the energy permit for the hydroelectric power plant in question was issued on June 29, 2021. In the whole story, nothing would be disputable if, in accordance with the law, the possession of an energy permit is not a precondition for issuing a construction permit.
The interest in the construction of SHPPs was initiated by the benefits realized by investors, and the politics enables them to do so. Bosnia and Herzegovina exports electricity at a price cheaper than it is selling it to its citizens, and we do not need what is produced with the help of SHPPs, but investors build subsidies for renewable energy sources, which are paid by households in our country. Therefore, the logical assumption is that this is a problem of every citizen. In your opinion, is an even stronger and more massive resistance of the citizens needed in order to achieve certain results, i.e., the adoption of a law banning construction on rivers?
It is clear that the pressure must be much stronger at all levels of government. That is the only thing we can do at this moment. We must not be satisfied with promises alone, but demand concrete steps. All this is taking too long, it is consciously procrastinating and buying time for investors, every lost day means ten meters of a destroyed riverbed.
HPP Ulog would produce only 0.55% of the total annual electricity production in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Is that small percentage worth devastating the nature?
We all know that the Neretva River is one of the most beautiful rivers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially its upper course. If this HPP is ever built, or one of the planned ones, the Neretva as we know it will no longer exist. We note that the decision of the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina on declaring public interest in the construction of three large hydropower plants in Glavatičevo and Bjelimići, which were awarded to the Public Company Elektroprivreda Bosne i Hercegovine, was recently made. The construction of such hydropower facilities will cause an immeasurable loss and damage. If these plans are realized, the upper Neretva will be completely transformed from a river into a series of reservoirs and pipelines, which will have a huge impact on biodiversity and many rare, endemic and relict species that we will lose forever will disappear.
“Neretvica” and “Kruščica” are positive examples where locals managed to prevent machines of accessing the construction site with their bodies. According to the latest information, Association “Pusti me da tečem” submitted a request for termination of the concession agreement for the construction and use of SHPPs. This contract can be considered terminated by the law itself, because the contractual obligations of the concessionaire have not been complied with within the prescribed period, and no annexes to the contract have been signed that would allow the extension of the implementation period. There are many examples of this attitude of the authorities, where they break the law, e.g., on the river Doljanci, then the river Kasindol. How important is this legal battle and calling for the responsibility of the authorities to respect the laws, judgments, deadlines…?
In addition to Neretva and Kruščica, I would certainly mention Fojnica, but also other communities that have clearly said that they do not want these freaks on their rivers. Here, I primarily mean Buna, Jajce, Donji Vakuf, Sokolac, Kraljeva Sutjeska, Kiseljak and others, which fortunately stopped the construction in an easier way, there were no physical blockages. As for the concession agreements that have exceeded all deadlines, unfortunately this is a very tricky topic that we have to deal with much more in the coming period. Most of these concession contracts for SHPPs were awarded more than 10 years ago, although they broke all deadlines and violated several articles, the authorities do not want to terminate them. Most of these contracts have articles defining the deadlines for construction and commissioning, which were broken long ago, so the competent institutions have arguments to terminate them without any compensation, the only problem is that they do not want to do it.
Finally, can you send a message to the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Water is not only one of the most important, but also one of the most sensitive natural resources. The effects of the climate crisis are also being felt in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Instead of protecting our waters, the state develops and encourages an economy based on the enrichment of individuals in which our water is traded, our water is exploited indefinitely and pollutes rapidly. If we want to save water for future generations, we must react urgently and stop further destruction.
