-
By:
Profit Gas
- September 5, 2020 12:42
- Share to:
With the agreement signed yesterday in Washington Serbia has become a shareholder in Lake Ujman, this after Kosovo has agreed for its joint use.
"Both countries have agreed to work with the US Department of Energy, for a feasibility study on the possibility of joint use of Lake Ujman, as a source of water and energy supply", it is stated in one of the points of yesterday's agreement.
But what does this agreement really mean for Kosovo. To show this, we bring you the article "Ujmani, lifeline" published in Koha Ditore on September 30, 2018, which you can read in full below.
Ujmani, the lifeline
Peace in the region is in danger of "sinking" in the largest artificial lake of Kosovo - Ujman.
also
The property of Ujman
The main water vein for Kosovo has become part of the discourse of Albanian and Serbian politicians, who talk about changing borders and exchanging territory.
In addition to producing 30 megawatts of electricity, Ujmani supplies water to several municipalities and is key to the operation of heavy industry. From Mitrovica to Obiliq, a hydrosystem has been built that feeds the agricultural lands in the northwest of Kosovo with the water of Ujman.
There was not much talk about Ujman until Serbia openly showed its claims for shares in this resource. As an argument, I am using the fact that the lake geographically passes through the territory, which the official Pristina has not managed to fully bring under control.
As a result, the Ujman tap is also held by the northerners, who decide how much water from the lake they will give to Pristina. Their final goal is to bring Ujman under the umbrella of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian Majority, a mechanism that is on the way to being established.
Strategic importance
The panoramic view in the middle of the mountains of Rogozna makes Ujman one of the most beautiful attractions in Kosovo. The KFOR checkpoint, which was located in the village of Çaber, which is inhabited by Albanians, is the dividing line with the municipality of Zubin-Potoku, which leads to Lake Ujman.
The road along which lies the pond filled with water is accompanied by flags and symbols of Serbia. On the road, you see only cars with Serbian license plates or those without license plates at all. There are still posters of the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, who recently paraded through the areas inhabited by Serbs.
There are also beaches on the lake, which at the end of September, when the newspaper team visited Ujman, were empty. Apart from its beauty, the lake is considered among the strategically important assets on which the country's economy depends. The Ujman Dam was built between 1979-1984 and has an area of 11.9 square kilometers and 370 million cubic meters of water. The water from this artificial lake is used for cooling the thermal power plants in Obiliq.
In case of drought, like the one in 2014, the lakes of Batllava and Badovci are filled through Ujman. According to water experts, the Energy Corporation can only work for 8 hours without the water of Ujman. Half of the current in the north of Kosovo is produced in that country, while a large part of Kosovo is supplied with water from the reservoir lake. In case of interruption of the water, which serves for the cooling and evaporation systems in the power plants, the country would face disaster. Without Ujman, even the "New Kosova" thermal power plant cannot be built.
The municipalities that receive water from this lake are: Mitrovica, Vushtrri, Drenasi, Skenderaj, Obiliqi, Fushë-Kosova. Meanwhile, about 40 percent of the residents of Pristina are supplied by Ujmani, through the Water Factory in Shkabaj. Without Ujman, not even "Ferroniceli" can operate in Drenas. The water of Ujman, in addition to being used for drinking, also irrigates 20 thousand hectares of agricultural land. The amount of water in this lake is incomparably greater than in all other artificial lakes in Kosovo. The artificial lake, 85 percent of which is located in Kosovo, collects 390-410 million water per cubic meter.
Battle for Ujman
The battle for this lake, otherwise known as Gazivode, continues even further between Kosovo and Serbia. While Kosovo considers that the entire lake, part of which is located in Novi-Pazar, belongs to it, Serbia is making efforts to bring the lake and Gazivoda hydropower plants under the control of the Association of Serbian Municipalities. Consequently, this would cause the receipts from water and electricity to flow to the Association. Even in the last meetings of the Management Team for the drafting of the statute, the existence of the Association was linked to Gazivoda.
Officials of the Government of Kosovo have repeatedly stated that Ujmani is Kosovo's asset and they will not agree to discuss it in negotiations. Afrim Lajqi is an adviser in the Interministerial Council of the Government of Kosovo. According to him, the state of Kosovo is defunctionalized without Lake Ujman. He denies that until now the issue of Ujman has been discussed.
"This is a resource of Kosovo that should not even be entered into political negotiations with Serbia", said Lajqi. He admits that the problem is the fact that in the north there is a lack of jurisdiction of the state of Kosovo, "however, the workers report to the company of Ibër-Lepenci".
Currently, the lake is guarded by KFOR. Most of the workers at the Ujman Hydropower Plant are Serbs, who report to the public company "Ibër-Lepenci". The law on public enterprises determines that the Government of Kosovo is the owner of the assets of all public enterprises, including "IbërLepenci".
The Serbs who manage the Ujman Hydropower Plant are elected and report to the management in Pristina. Earlier, there were attempts to establish parallel management at the head of the Hydropower Plant. For several days, the work at the Hydropower Plant was interrupted in 2015, due to the attempt to take control of this asset.
The operation outside the Kosovo energy system of the Gazivoda dam has caused great damage to the budget. The entire energy system of Kosovo is often endangered as a result of non-compliance with the instructions of the Distribution of Kosovo. The operators of the Vallac station have in the past illegally disconnected the system and connected it to the Novi-Pazar transmission line in Serbia. From this resource of Kosovo, Serbia continues to reap millions of income. It is estimated that every year the Serbs collect 6 to 7 million euros.
But, according to the energy agreement, it is KOSTT that puts under control the substation of Vallac in the northern part, practically and the entire transmission system. Meanwhile, the illegal intervention of Serbian operators in the northern part, according to the agreement, should stop including the dispatching control of the Ujmani hydropower plant and the import of the 110 kilovolt (kV) line from Novi-Pazari.
KOSTT will be able to collect revenues from transited energy for third countries, since with the signing of the agreement, this institution becomes part of the mechanism for cooperation between operators at the European level. Referring to energy data from the past, these revenues could reach 1 million to 500 million.
For years, the state of Kosovo has tolerated and silenced the frauds with electricity in the north, populated by a majority of Serbs. The Government has "invoiced" its inability to control the energy system in the north to the citizens in the south. Every year, citizens have paid over eight million euros for the energy consumed by the northerners. For the energy that Kosovo has produced, Serbia continues to collect millions selectively. Local institutions, corporations and businesses are the ones from which Serbia collects the money for the spent energy.
However, most individual consumers have never paid bills. Kosovo has agreed to allow the Electric Economy of Serbia (EPS) to establish its own company for supply in Kosovo. The agreement foresees that the EPS itself will submit the documents to the Agency for Business Registration in Kosovo (ARBK), through which it applies for registration.
Even the name of this company - "ElektroSever" has been specified in the agreement. But the application for registration of this company has been rejected several times, due to disregarding the laws of Kosovo.
Unauthorized investments of Serbia
Expert Avdi Gjonbalaj was a former high official at the time when Lake Ujman was built. He told about the actions that the northern Serbs are taking now, financed by Belgrade, to create a pretext to "occupy" Ujman.
He mentioned the creation of the public enterprise in Zubin-Potok in 2002, an action that has been silenced by the institutions of Kosovo. Also, the Government of Serbia has allocated 6 million euros for the continuation of the works for the construction of the water pipeline, Zveçan-Mitrovica Zubin Potok-Ujman.
“So you can guess where they're going to get the water - they're going to get it to the bottom discharger, which is technically impossible to happen. So, their goal is to disconnect from the Kosovo system and say that we are not dependent, that they manage the system themselves, using Gazivoda", said Gjonbalaj, in the interview given to "Daily Time".
Meanwhile, at the entrance of the lake, the facility for water protection and monitoring, education and humanitarian activities, with the accompanying facility and the external arrangement of the terrain in the municipality of Zubin-Potoku, has been built. According to the explanatory table, at the top of which is written "Republic of Serbia", the investor is the Municipality of Zubin-Potoku, while the executor of the project is the company "Radujka Invest", Belgrade.
Serbia is trying to present Gazivoda as itself, also through media propaganda. Such is the Serbian-Russian film project, through which it is claimed that with the construction of Lake Gazivoda, "Serbian cultural heritage has been drowned".
also
Experts against the point of agreement for Ujman, "it should not be discussed"
To prove the opposite, Gjonbalaj says that they have the facts supported by documents written about the archaeological research, which were carried out in 1977. Until now, Kosovo has refused to talk about Lake Ujman with Serbia, a process that was developed with the mediation of Brussels. The issue of who will own the Vallaç substation, the dam and the Gazivoda lake at Zubin-Potoku in the north caused a deadlock even in the energy talks in Brussels.
Already in 2013, the former Serbian Prime Minister, Ivica Dacic, in a meeting with his counterpart Hashim Thaçi, tried to raise this topic in the framework of the dialogue. But it was postponed due to ownership issues. This issue is back on the agenda of the Government of Serbia.
Even recently, the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, gave a speech on the dam of Lake Ujman, openly showing his claims to take a share in this resource. His visit was made with the permission of the official institutions of Pristina. From there, Vuçiqi said that Gazivoda talks about the serious battles that the Serbs have with the Albanians.
"But I hope that we will agree on the use of water", said Vuçiqi.
A binding point for Serbia appears in Chapter 35 for membership in the European Union. This is the only official document that talks about Ujman.
In terms of energy, Serbia is required to "solve the issue of management in the Ujman hydrosystem (Gazivoda)".
Vucic's visit came a few weeks after the president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, proposed the idea of correcting the border with Serbia. This is being seen as a euphemism for the exchange of territories.
Thaçi, who imposed himself as the leader in the dialogue, without a mandate from the Assembly, has on several occasions mentioned the painful compromises, but without indicating what they are. The newspaper wrote that the option is that the northernmost municipality of Kosovo - Leposaviqi, together with Leshaku, will be exchanged with Presheva and a part of Bujanovac.
The municipality of Leposaviq is populated by a Serbian majority and has 75 settlements. Even Leshaku is a settlement of the city of Leposaviq in the north of Kosovo that has an ethnic Serb majority population of more than 2 thousand inhabitants.
Sources close to these talks have told the newspaper that Gazivoda Lake is also thought to be part of the agreement, namely finding a solution based on international water treaties.
"But this is the point where there is expected to be a clash between the parties, due to the claims of the Serbs that they own Gazivoda", said the source. Since this lake passes through Zubin-Potok, a part of this municipality, also populated by a Serbian majority, can be included in the exchange. In his frequent appearances at conferences, President Thaçi ruled out the possibility of discussing Ujman with Serbia.
But Thaçi is calling a part of northern Kosovo a "gift" of Ranković. The presidency has not indicated how much territory this "gift" contains, but, according to the head of state, it is about "a part of Leposavic, Leshaku and a part of Zubin-Potok".
After several reorganizations of the local government and the abolition of the five districts that Kosovo had, on December 22, 1960, the Council of the "Autonomous District of Kosovo and Metohija" decided to have 28 municipalities. With the consent of the government of Serbia, the municipality of Leposavic, which until then was in the "District of Rashka", was annexed to Kosovo from its 27 municipalities.
The former chairman of the Communist League for Kosovo, Azem Vllasi, told the newspaper the reasons for changing the borders at that time. "The reason was: the gravitation of the territory of the Mitrovica region and the greatest opportunities for employment and a better life, because with the resources of mining and metallurgy, which means with the resources of "Trepça" the opportunities for employment of people and a life the better they were bigger", said Vllasi.
According to him, the Municipality of Leposaviq had Leshaku and Ibarska Slatina, as settlements with many inhabitants and several small villages, as well as a mountain peak at the foot of Kopaonik called "Panqiqev vrh" (Panqiq Peak).
"In addition to the Stantërg Mine, the "Trepça" complex also had the "Bello Bërdo" mine (which still exists today), which is located in the territory of the Municipality of Leposaviq, while the foundry was (as it is today) in Zveçan", emphasized lawyer Vllasi. .
The Assembly of Kosovo has so far failed to approve a document that would not allow the territory and assets of Kosovo to be put up for sale. The member of the Commission for Economic Development, Hykmete Bajrami, says that Ujman has never been discussed in the Assembly. "Ujmani represents the most important resource that Kosovo has.
This topic should never have been opened by the Kosovar side. Of course, Serbia is always ready to control Kosovo and its assets", said the LDK MP. According to her, it is the adventures of President Thaçi that endanger the future of the country, not only its resources. The former Minister of Trade and Industry has said that the president has taken steps backwards in the consolidation of the state of Kosovo, "and this has irreparable consequences".
"We are against the movement of the borders, while there are thousands of arguments not to play with the borders - Independence, the Ahtisaari Package, 114 recognition, the opinion of the ICJ and the interest of the whole of Albania", she said.
Those who know Gazivoda say that the Kosovar side has cowered and is not using the arguments, which prove that Serbia has no right over him.
The water expert, Avdi Gjonbalaj, says that for the construction of Ujman, which cost 95 million dollars, Kosovo allocated 45 million, which were taken from the fund for the underdeveloped years in the former Yugoslavia, as it was called then.
Meanwhile, another 45 million have received loans from the World Bank. According to him, the claim of the Serbs that they have paid the loan, and that they also own the property, is not correct either.
"The arguments are on our side. Serbia has no argument, none. If he says that he has returned the loan, he should have entered the success, because they are obligations of the Federation", said Gjonbalaj.
For Gazivoda, where the 300-kilovolt, 220-kilovolt and 110-kilovolt lines are installed, there are no property problems either, as claimed by senior Serbian officials. According to Gjonbalaj, the expropriation of the lands of the Serbs in Zubin-Potok, through which the canal is planned to pass, was done with Kosovo's money.
And for the university professor, Zeqir Veselaj, in the name of the "strategic interest of the northern Serbs", the vital interests of nearly half of the inhabitants of Kosovo cannot be violated.
For Serbia, according to Veselaj, the lake represents nothing more than a little water for drinking and a recreational-tourist area, while "for Kosovo it is a vital source for drinking water, irrigation and energy and economic operations of the country".
"Nothing is in danger for the Serbs there, because neither water nor other property is taken from them, nor is their energy stopped. They are simply being encouraged by Serbian politics, which has the sole purpose of defunctionalizing the state of Kosovo. If they count on blackmailing that state with a state asset, they must count on the political and legal consequences", said Veseli in an editorial published in "Kohën Ditore".
According to him, the investments in the lake and around it should also be clarified; "who is investing, for what reasons and on what legal basis". "Currently, only the Government of Serbia is investing there, with the latest investments of 10 million euros in the water supply for the northern municipalities. Not because they lack water supply, but with these investments, Serbia will keep the political rejection of Pristina alive." According to Veselaj, Serbia should only be discussed about the integrated management of this water resource, "since for better or for worse we have decided to have it as a neighbor for the time being and share the lake between us".
also
How will Ujman Lake be used jointly by Kosovo and Serbia?
He recalled that the transboundary lakes are full and are managed without political problems, as determined by international conventions and European directives. He mentioned the case of Montenegro and Albania in Lake Shkodra, and of Albania and Macedonia in Lake Ohrid. "The integrated management of the transboundary lake should be the only talking point in the future," he says.
{gallery}
