Hotels and households on Jahorina mountain are expected to receive gas by the end of the year, thanks to a project being formalized today. Republika Srpska and Serbia are also rapidly moving forward with the previously proposed construction of a main gas pipeline from Belgrade to Banja Luka.
This announcement was made by Nedeljko Elek, Director of the company “Sarajevogas” from East Sarajevo, ahead of today’s official start of works on the Pale-Jahorina distribution gas pipeline, one of the most significant events for the gas system of Republika Srpska.
“This project concerns the second phase of gasification in the eastern part of Republika Srpska. It will cover six municipalities and two ski centers, namely Jahorina and Igrišta. The local communities involved in this project are Pale, Trnovo, a branch towards Sokol, as well as Han Pijesak, Milići, Šekovići, and Vlasenica,” said Elek.
He recalled that the first phase of gasification in the eastern part of the Republic included the “Heating Plant” in East Sarajevo, emphasizing that this work has been completed, thus creating the conditions for the second phase of this important project, valued at 15 million BAM.
“This project is financed through guarantees from the Government of Republika Srpska. It is a crucial project because we will connect the municipality of Pale with the Olympic Center ‘Jahorina’ through this distribution gas pipeline. Increasing gas consumption is very important for us due to our relationship with the Russian Federation. This is practically the first time in 30 years that we are laying and installing pipes, expanding both our primary and secondary networks,” said Elek.
When asked about the project’s completion date, Elek stated that they expect to deliver gas to Jahorina by December 31, thus gasifying all hotels and individual consumers on the Olympic beauty.
Before the official start of this project, a meeting is planned between the leadership of “Sarajevogas” and “Srbijagas” with officials from Republika Srpska and Serbia at the “Rajska dolina” hotel.
“Although ‘Srbijagas’ does not play a role in the implementation of the second phase of the project in the east of Srpska, a decision was made at the All-Serb Assembly in Belgrade for ‘Srbijagas’ to finance the main gas pipeline to Banja Luka. We have named it the main gas pipeline Belgrade – Banja Luka,” said Elek.
He emphasized that “Sarajevogas” has been designated as the project leader on behalf of the Government of Srpska, while “Srbijagas” is the project leader on behalf of the Government of Serbia.
“So, we will no longer wait for the interconnection and will proceed through the territory of Republika Srpska from Šepak to Banja Luka, laying pipes along the route of the highway from Belgrade to Banja Luka. This will practically gasify the entire Republika Srpska,” Elek said.
He highlighted that all activities will start from Šepak, where they already have an outlet, and that the work will proceed towards Bijeljina, where a gas pipeline has already been built, then further to Brčko along the future highway route, and all the way to Banja Luka.
The construction of a gas pipeline following the highway route from Belgrade to Banja Luka was also discussed in 2020, but it seems that a significant step forward towards the realization of this idea was made at the All-Serb Assembly held on June 8 in Belgrade.
OBSTRUCTIONS
Certain Bosniak politicians have repeatedly blocked the proposal for the construction of the eastern interconnection with Serbia in the past period, thereby obstructing the gasification project of Republika Srpska.
These obstructions have lasted for years, despite appeals from Republika Srpska representatives for them to stop, as the issue of gasification is entirely within the entity’s jurisdiction, while only international agreements are signed at the BiH level.
Source: RTRS
