Coalition for Vrbas River Collects Signatures for the Petition Against Hydro-Electric Dams

The canyon of Vrbas River will be seriously damaged by the construction. Last Saturday, the Coalition for Protection of Vrbas River, made of environmental organizations from the region of Banja Luka, started collecting signatures for its petition to suspend the Concession Agreement for construction of two hydro-electric dams on Vrbas River. Aleksandar Pastir, from the Coalition, said that the petition campaign will last for seven days. The goal of the campaign is to collect the necessary 3,000 signatures and submit the petition to the Parliament (Narodna skupstina) of the Republic of Srpska. The coalition demands that, prior to the signing of the Concession agreement, an environmental study is prepared. The environmental organizations and activists involved in the Coalition believe that the construction of the two dams would lead to the extinction of many species of local flora and fauna, and that the quality of drinking water would rapidly deteriorate. On its session of October 19, the Parliament of the Republic of Srpska postponed its session on the Concession Agreement for today (November 2, 2004). The postponement was due to the initiative of representatives of six civic associations from Banja Luka, together with the local communities of Krupa-on-Vrbas, Rekavica and Karanovac.

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