The government, led by Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić, has terminated seven concession agreements which provided for the construction of small hydropower plants (HPPs), says the Ministry of Capital Investments, headed by Minister Mladen Bojanić.
Among others, the agreement with the Hidra MNE company, majority owned by Mr Jovan Gordijan and Mr Milovan Maksimović, the nephew of the President of Montenegro, Mr Milo Đukanović, was terminated.
The terminated agreements on the small HPPs construction related to the watercourses in Plav, Bijelo Polje, Šavnik, Budva and Kolašin.
As expected, the government will have to pay compensation to investors, but the exact amount is still unknown. They blame the previous government for this.
Locals, who have been protesting for months and defending the rivers from machines, do not hide their joy resulting from the defense, as they say, of the Montenegrin wealth.
One of the locals, Mr Veljko Bulatović, says that they will be completely satisfied only when all Montenegrin rivers are protected.
The Ministry of Capital Investments assures that it will do so. “It can be said with certainty that this Government will not grant new concessions for the construction of small power plants”, the ministry stresses.
