Message to Kovač: Shame on you, let the Pliva flow

(Patria) - The initiative committee “We won't give up Pliva and Janj” organized a petition signing in Šipovo. With the petition, they express their opposition to the construction of a mini-hydroelectric power plant on the Pliva river, in the village of Sokolac. They are asking the Municipal Assembly to pass a decision on a citizens' referendum, where they would declare themselves on its construction.

The president of the Initiative Committee of the NGO “We won't give up Pliva and Janj” and councilor in the Šipovo Municipal Assembly, Draženko Prole, says that the petition is only the first step in preventing the natural resources of all citizens from being subordinated to the interests of individuals.

“I believe that Mayor Kovač will make a statement and try to relieve himself of the pressure. He and a small group of people around him are involved in the process of building the hydroelectric power plant, and they previously played a double game by deceiving the people and allowing the construction of the first hydroelectric power plant on the Pliva. They were publicly against the construction, but in reality, behind the citizens' backs, they insidiously did everything to ensure that the investors obtained all the necessary permits,” says Prole.

Milan Plavšić, a councilor in the Šipovo Municipal Assembly, stated that the citizens of Šipovo will not allow the construction of a second hydroelectric power plant on the Pliva river.

“When I was the president of the Assembly, I convened two sessions on the topic of building hydroelectric power plants, I wrote dozens of letters, warned the relevant minister Đokić, and tried by all legal means to stop the construction on the Pliva and Sokočnica rivers. However, the state deceived us, the mayor of Šipovo, Milan Kovač, deceived us, who quietly approved all possible permits and consents that accelerated the commissioning of the existing power plant,” explains Plavšić.

Plavšić reminds that the assembly decision from April 2022 clearly adopted the stance that mini-hydroelectric power plants will not be built in the Šipovo area.

“This time, the people will prevent the construction of the hydroelectric power plant through a referendum, and if forced, physically. On April 17th of this year, Mayor Kovač received a decision from the competent ministry where the investor is given the option not to conduct an environmental impact study. They only want to extract financial benefits, and they are not interested in the consequences that will lead to the permanent destruction of nature. Throughout history, this nation has overcome all possible hardships, and it will overcome this anti-people government,” says Plavšić.

Plavšić says that the mini-hydroelectric power plant “Jovići” involves a dam 120 meters long, raising the water level of the Pliva river by three meters, and forming a lake several kilometers long not far from the very source of the Pliva.