11 August 2021
11.08.2021 - The working group for "Reviewing the administrative procedures applied for hydropower plants and their impact on the environment" has finalized its work and presented the main findings through a report.
This working group was established by a decision of the Minister of MMPHI, Liburn Aliu, with the aim of reviewing the legality as well as the procedural and administrative aspects of the permitting of these HPPs. Experts from MMPHI and its subordinate agencies were included within the group.
Some of the main findings of the report are the following:
a) Despite the fact that the law regulates that for the use of water for business purposes a concession must be obtained, the Ministry (MMPH), as the authority responsible for granting water rights, has not implemented the granting of the concession but has granted the water rights through a water permit, which constitutes a violation of the Water Law of Kosovo. The main difference between a water permit and a concession lies in the fact that a concession is granted through a competitive process, whereas a water permit is not.
b) Not only has the concession procedure prescribed by law not been implemented, but the issuance of water permits for water use for hydroelectric plants has been carried out in violation of the sub-legal act for water permits regarding the documentation that must be attached to the application as well as the content of the water permit.
c) The issuing of water permits for HPPs has been done without being based on a detailed and professional review and has not relied on planning documents. As a result, water permits have been granted and hydroelectric plants have been built even in areas where major hydrotechnical projects were planned, thus endangering the implementation of these strategically important facilities for Kosovo (as in the case of the Lepenci hydro system).
d) In the absence of a guideline on the manner of drafting and reviewing the environmental impact assessment (EIA), which according to the law should have been issued by the Ministry, the process of reviewing the EIA report and issuing environmental approval has not had a clearly defined progress and a proper standard. EIA reports are generally of poor quality. The most important aspects for aquatic flora and fauna, such as acceptable ecological flow, flood regime, and fish pathways, are addressed only superficially.
e) For all three HPPs of the Deçan cascade, construction permits and certificates of use were issued by the Ministry, even though all these HPPs have a capacity under 10 MW, and consequently, by law, the issuance of construction permits is the competence of the municipality. This was done by combining two HPPs (“Deçani” and “Belaja”) under one construction permit since together they exceed 10 MW, and the HPP “Lumbardhi” with the dam which was not built at all.
f) Practically all HPPs are built in close proximity to the rivers (water flows) from which they generate energy, contrary to the provisions of the Law on Waters of Kosovo, which prohibits construction at a distance of less than 30 meters from the river banks (maximum 100-year water line).
For more, download the full report