How (so to speak) Grabovica worked, who wanted a second term at Elektroprivreda

Former director of Elektroprivreda BiH Elvedin Grabovica, although he expected it, did not receive confidence for a new mandate in this company, reports the Patria news agency.

His place was taken by Bajazit Jašarević, who will, in the coming days, together with the rest of the Management, carry out all checks and reviews of the operations of the former Management of Elektroprivreda. But what did Grabovica actually do in four years?

The truth is that Grabovica, once a loyal SDP cadre, did turn a new leaf towards the end of his mandate and tried to get closer to either the SDA or DF in order to remain in the director position, but his lobby was too weak compared to the extremely strong Tuzla faction within the SDA, which exerted pressure even on its leader Bakir Izetbegović, and so Bajazit Jašarević, former Prime Minister of Tuzla Canton, emerged as the winner in the duel Grabovica vs. Jašarević.

Grabovica's mandate was marked by numerous scandals, from paying around 1.9 million KM for furniture and art paintings for the Elektroprivreda headquarters, to accusations that his moves were undermining the electricity sector in BiH.

Grabovica in his "refreshed" office

Grabovica also paid a hefty sum for the creation of a new website for EP BiH.

A particular story unfolded when Elvedin Dino Grabovica and his party boss Zlatko Lagumdžija, in one of Sarajevo's luxury restaurants, agreed on the sale of surplus electricity to a company chosen by controversial businessman Damir Fazlić.

Fazlić, incidentally, was the initiator of the annulment of the 2012 tender in which EP BiH had achieved very favorable prices that year. In the previous period, he pushed the company's management to sell huge surpluses of electricity through direct daily negotiations.

Of course, this went to favored "friendly" companies at a much lower price than what EP BiH had achieved in the annulled tender. All of this was accompanied by open disapproval from those responsible for electricity trading, who will ultimately bear criminal responsibility for the harmful business practices.

Whether this will now happen remains to be seen in the coming period.

It is also true that Grabovica inherited a loss of 16.3 million KM at EP BiH, and he often faced unfavorable hydrological situations, which led to the maximized use of thermal capacities.

It is also true that in 2011, the price of electricity was increased by 15 percent, but in this way, EP BiH was supposed to increase its gross revenue by exactly 50 million marks.

However, a net profit of 6.5 million KM was reported, and experts at the time said that EP BiH's net profit should have been at least five, if not six times greater than the reported 6.5 million KM.

In 2013, the director of EP BiH stated that the company was focused on three capital projects.

These are Block 7 of the Tuzla Thermal Power Plant (TE), estimated at 1.5 billion KM, the Vranduk Hydroelectric Plant (HE) worth 120 million KM (61.4 million euros), and the Podveležje wind farm (VE) near Mostar, also with an estimated value of 120 million KM.

- These are three parallel processes and projects that we are working on intensively and practically bringing to completion. We spent a lot of time going through complicated administrative procedures where we found a lot of talk about these projects, but little work done, so for two and a half years we have been working on gathering the necessary documentation and closing the financial structure – Grabovica said.

And so time passed, and these three projects were not completed. Preparatory works are still ongoing, and what will happen next is currently unknown.

During his mandate, Grabovica also dealt with miners, equalizing their hot meal and holiday allowance at the Concern level, meaning for workers of Elektroprivreda BiH and the mines.

But miners' safety at work was never increased, about which they have now, among other things, signed an agreement with the FBiH Government.

And, finally (so to speak), it is impossible to talk about the character and deeds of Elvedin Grabovica without highlighting the word SO TO SPEAK, because Grabovica earned that nickname during his four-year mandate due to his excessive use of that word.