Erste Bank, as the main creditor of the construction of the water purification plant in Zrenjanin, has initiated a lien over the Water Factory in this city due to non-payment of the debt.
As announced, the bank plans to settle the due receivable from the Water Factory by selling it. They also informed the factory about the intention to initiate a lien on June 20, and to start the procedure of settling the debtor in July.
– In order to protect our investment, in the end we had to, in accordance with the Law on Pledge over Movable Property and Rights Entered in the Register, start the procedure of settling the debtors of the Zrenjanin Water Factory, about which an official letter was sent on July 20, 2021. We want to settle the overdue receivables by selling the factory as a whole, respecting the valid regulations that define the collection of overdue receivables. During the implementation of this procedure, we hope that a buyer will appear who will start the factory and enable the delivery of chemically and bacteriologically correct water to all Zrenjanin residents – it is stated in the written answer of Jasna Uzelac Braunovic, independent expert associate for external communications of Erste Bank ad.
As stated in the written answer, one of the motives of Erste Bank when approving the investment loan to finance the water treatment plant was that the citizens of Zrenjanin get the right drinking water.
– During the previous years, as one of the interested parties, we actively participated in all talks and negotiations, trying to do everything in our power to fulfill the purpose of the factory – it is stated in the letter of Erste Bank.
In a statement given to the newspaper, the mayor of Zrenjanin, Simo Salapura, states that both commissions that evaluated the factory came to the conclusion that the water factory was not built in accordance with the technological requirements and propositions.
– In five of the nine production phases, the plant built by “Grupo zilio” does not meet the technological requirements. This does not mean that the technology does not exist, but that this particular investor did not do a good job – said the mayor of Zrenjanin, Simo Salapura.
He announces that an expert commission will be formed, which will be asked to examine all the circumstances. When asked why there has been silence so far, he answered that they worked responsibly on solving the case.
– We did not want to take any step that would give the investor the opportunity to, using the flexibility of interpretation of regulations, due to some of our hasty reaction or prematurely announced information, start a procedure that would prevent us from terminating the contract painlessly, without costs for the City and citizens. Since the investor realized the project with his own funds, for which he gave guarantees that he would give a successful result, and he did not succeed in that, we waited for legal conditions to be created to terminate the contract, without damaging the city budget due to a possible court dispute. The investor, the people of Zrenjanin saw, showed that he is ready for everything – said the mayor of Zrenjanin, Danas reports.
