Serbia, Republic of Srpska and Italy to use the Drina's water potential together

(Claudio Schaiola, Petar Škundrić and Slobodan Puhalac)

The Minister of Energy and Mining of Serbia, Petar Škundrić, the Minister of Economic Development of Italy, Claudio Schaiola, and the Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining of the Republic of Srpska, Slobodan Puhalac, signed the joint statement yesterday (April 26, 2010) about exploitation of the Drina's water potentials.

On that occasion, Škundrić and Puhalac also signed the agreement that defines mutual rights and obligations of Serbia and the Republic of Srpska in connection with the construction of new power supply facilities on the Drina.

Also, CEO of the Electric Power Company of Serbia (EPS), Dragomir Marković, and the President of Seci Energia, Gaetano Makaferi, signed the preliminary agreement for construction of hydroelectric power plants on the Ibar and the Sava.

Škundrić pointed out at the press conference after the signing ceremony that total value of those projects was close to EUR 1bn and added that the signing of all those documents had created the conditions for the three countries to start the study analyses and the estimate of the profitability of hydroelectric power plants in the locations of Rogačica, Dubravica and Tegare.

He said that the installed power of those hydroelectric power plants on the Drina would be between 380 and 400 MW, with the note that they could annually produce nearly 1,500 GWh of electric power.

Schaiola said that the signing of aforementioned documents enabled the commencement of realization of the projects that would make the Drina an important resource of water energy for Serbia, RS and Italy.

He said that some other joint energy projects of Serbia and Italy were in the pipeline and added that the signing of the contracts for those projects was planned to take place at the energy summit, which would be held in Belgrade at the end of the year.