Small victories for preservation of the entire Sana Basin
Guided by the example of hydropower plant “Medn," the company d.o.oElektrik from Banja Luka tried to get permission for Environmental Impact Assessment for the hydropower plant “PrizrenGrad – Sana 2." This plant is planned to be constructed in the municipalities of Ribnik and Mrkonjic Grad on the Sana River but that failed.
According to the Law on Free Access to Information, Coalition for Sana, through Centre for Environment from Banja Luka received information from the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Civil Engineers and Ecologists that were requested for Environmental Impact Assessment of the hydropower plant “Prizren City – Sana 2″ on the Sana River by the municipalities of Ribnik and Mrkonjic Grad were rejected.
The decision states, “On June 6th, 2015 the applicant submitted an application stating that he still has not received a positive opinion from Ribnik Municipality related to environmental impact assessment due to the recent public protests because of the construction of the adjacent hydropower plant “.
“Although the construction of hydropower plant "Medna" is still ongoing, we are fighting to stop the project. It is encouraging that through many years of activitism against this hydropower plant, we managed to slow down, if not stop, plans for a hydropower plant "Prizren Grad" – Sana 2 against which we are also from the start when we engaged in the process," said Goran Krivic, the coordinator of the Coalition for Sana.
This kind of project would destroy another canyon of upper Sana River, flora and fauna, and the whole ecosystem would be significantly violated. The "Medna" hydropwer plant provides an example of the destruction of the river, riverbed, canyon, flora, fauna and the whole ecosystem. "Medna" is an example of how foreign investments are destroying local natural resources.
Coalition for Sana consisting of 23 associations of nature and sports lovers has been trying for years to prevent the destruction of the upper stream of Sana River. The coalition also wants to emphasize the need to protect the upper stream and declare a nature park. The declaration of a nature park is planned by Spatial Plan of Republic of Srpska for 2015 – 2025. Municipality Ribnik voted unanimously twice at the Municipal Assembly against the construction of hydropower plants on the Sana River. This shows that the Sana is not for sale and that the struggle continues. The struggle is not only against the planned hydropower "Medna" and "PrizrenGrad – Sana 2" but for the whole Sana River basin and beyond.
