The assembly site of the future surface mine Radljevo and the northern bypass around the mine will be completed by the New Year.
“Then we will get to the coal in a very short time,” said the director of EPS, Milorad Grcic, today during a tour of the works on these facilities.
“Every job we start within the Electric Power Industry of Serbia, which ensures the extension of the life of any production capacity, is very important for EPS, and in this case for Kolubara, because it is a pillar of stability of electricity supply throughout Serbia,” said Grcic.
He emphasized that the future Radljevo mine is part of the Kolubara basin and the Nikola Tesla Thermal Power Plant, which produce half of the electricity in Serbia.
“The Radljevo mine is part of that basin. That mine was conceived by some smart people in 1976, and I will be very open, the SNS and Aleksandar Vucic should have come to power in order for that project to be realized,” said the director of EPS.
He explained that the removal of the land, the construction of the bypass and the assembly site on which the mining equipment will be installed and serviced are part of the preparations for the start of the work of the mine.
“Today we are here to visit the works on two important jobs, the construction of the northern bypass road 1,557 meters long worth one million euros, and on a large prefabricated plot of five hectares worth two million euros. In a very short time we will reach coal as well,” said Grcic.
He thanked the employees in the Municipality of Ub, who in a very short period of time completed the expropriation procedure on about 300 hectares where these facilities are being built.
The President of the Municipality of Ub, Darko Glisic, pointed out that it is unnecessary to talk about how important the Radljevo mine is for the whole of Serbia, even for Ub.
“Ub has been enjoying the benefits of such a grandiose project for several years. I am very grateful to the President of the Republic who helped a lot, to Director Grcic as someone who is there to take care of the project, and to the president of the Kolubara union and everyone who stood behind him, understanding the importance not only in the local context but also for the whole country,” said Glisic.
Miodrag Rankovic, the president of the Trade Union Organization of Kolubara, emphasized that the Radljevo mine is the future of the mining sector.
“All this gives certainty that coal will be mined for a long time on the territory of the municipalities of Ub and Lazarevac, and it is quite important, because it will replace our older mines in the foreseeable future,” said Rankovic.
He added that the opening of the Radljevo mine is the answer to all lobbyists who say that coal will no longer be mined.
“I think that coal will be digged with this state policy for a long time. There were those lobbyists who would like to move the switch to another state, to enslave us from that side, but I think with this state leadership it will not work for them,” concluded Rankovic.
EPS director Grcic explained that no one should worry that the amount of electricity that Serbia produces from coal will be reduced due to the introduction of “green” energy.
“Coal gives stability in the production of electricity in Serbia. The production of electricity from coal will remain at the same level as now, we will only increase the capacity of renewable energy sources, so the percentage of production in coal will be lower, but the amount of coal and the electricity from it will remain the same,” Grcic emphasized, B92 reports.
