Is There Hope for Vrbas River?
Several days ago, the Coalition for Protection of Vrbas River held a press conference at the International Press Centre in Banja Luka. At the press conference, they discussed the harmful influence of the construction of high dams on the river.
According to Miodrag Dakic, member of the Coalition and Expert Advisor for Review of the Environmental Study for the Buk Bijela Dam, this speaks enough about the lack of consistency and seriousness on the behalf of the competent institutions of the Republic of Srpska when it comes to projects as big and serious as this one. "Before the Concession Agreement is signed, it is necessary to conduct a review of the Environmental Impact Study, in a situation in which the obligatory Feasibility Study has not been completed yet", said Dakic, and emphasized that RS won't see any benefits from the Concession Agreement for the first 30 years of its existence. Professor Branislav Nedovic, member of the Coalition, fears that the Government of RS, i.e. the concessionaire would conduct a Feasibility Study with results most suitable for their purposes. "Simply said, there is no such environmental study that could possible justify a project like this, or it shouldn’t be called environmental," says Nedovic. The construction of "Banjaluka Niska" and "Krupa on Vrbas" dams would cause serious damages to the flora and fauna of the Vrbas, will endanger the endemic fish species like the "lipljen" and the trout, will lower the quality of drinking water, increase the danger of earthquakes, and disturb the climate to the extent that it may cause a serious health hazard. Aleksandar Pastir from the "Canyon" Rafting Club says that a study of the potentials of the Vrbas in terms of the sports and recreational activities and tourism has never been conducted, so that nobody is quite aware what the loss of the Vrbas as it is today would mean. "We spend 24 hours every day on the river, and we know its value. We hear about it during the visits of foreign guests, but also during our trips abroad, too, as we use every such opportunity to promote the Vrbas and its natural beauty", said Pastir. These are all serious points, but they seem to be beyond the interest of the Government, confirmed by the words of Djordje Lajsic, Minister of Energy: "We have to use the potentials that make us the envy of the rest of the world, to get a great product - electricity". The evidence states that rather than causing envy, the construction of the dams could make us the laughing stock of the future generations. In the words of Radovan Bjelogrlic, member of the Parliamentary Committee on Environmetal Protection, "... this project will be obsolete in 30 years, since the world will move to using solar energy much sooner". The activities of the Coalition to Protect the Vrbas River, which includes 30 civic associations and 6,000 citizens of Banja Luka that signed the petition against the dams, give us the hope that this project will not be implemented. |
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