Purchased machinery for 17 million euros for coal mining stood in a hangar for three years!

Photo: AD ESM

The new management of REC Bitola is preparing many criminal charges. There will also be criminal charges for not installing an excavator-transporter-unloader system, about why one meter of conveyor belt was bought for 540 euros, while a year ago it was paid for 340 euros, and a piece of hard material, which is it was bought as coal which then had to be broken up with the help of miners

The Director of ESM Zoran Konjanovski announced that they will submit more criminal charges to the Public Prosecutor's Office for the previous operations of this state company under whose umbrella the domestic production of electricity is located. Complaints are being made about the fact that purchased equipment was not used for three years, that low-quality coal was used, that the plan for discovering new coal layers was not acted upon, as well as for tender procedures.

The new director of REC Bitola, Toni Petrushevski, clarified that the equipment worth about 17 million euros, purchased in 2021, was found in a hangar.

- The new management appointed ten days ago found completely new mechanization for the mines - machines, graders, trucks... worth 17 million euros, which, although it was purchased three years ago, was not activated in the field at all, but was parked in the hangars of the plant for years. By reorganizing work and human potential, we made efforts in just a few days to create conditions to put all the new equipment into operation. I believe that it is unfair and impermissible to have new mining equipment for years and have it sit unused, and instead spend millions of euros on hiring external companies. According to the information we have available, with the equipment that we activated in the field, we expect that the needs of external mechanization will be reduced by about 30 percent, which will significantly reduce the total costs for mining tailings and coal - Petrushevski said during on the press visit to Suvodol and Brod Gneotino mines.

Regarding what was the motive for keeping the equipment in the hangar, a place to work with it, Konjanovski says that he expects the judicial authorities to find the answer.
Konjanovski says that a piece of, as he said, "solid matter" will also be delivered to the Prosecutor's Office.

– This solid matter was located in one of the blocks of REK Bitola. If you remember, the block could not work for 3-4 months, so blasting crews are coming to remove it. This is proof that poor quality coal was used, which was detrimental to both the energy plant and the country's energy stability - Konjanovski said at the press briefing.

He also accused that, in accordance with the project documentation, not even an entire excavator-transporter-unloader system was installed, so that the use of coal from Suvodol became impossible, as well as that one metro transport track was bought for 540 euros, and a year ago, for 340 euros were paid each. And these findings, he emphasized, will be given to the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Regarding the numerous accusations, which were made at the press briefing during the visit to the Suvodol and Brod-Gneotino coal mines, "Sloboden Pechat" also tried to get an answer from the former director Vasko Kovacevski, who was the longest serving director in ESM for the period they are reaching the allegations, but we failed to establish the communication.

Dear reader,

Our access to web content is free, because we believe in equality in information, regardless of whether someone can pay or not. Therefore, in order to continue our work, we ask for the support of our community of readers by financially supporting the Free Press. Become a member of Sloboden Pechat to help the facilities that will enable us to deliver long-term and quality information and TOGETHER let's ensure a free and independent voice that will ALWAYS BE ON THE PEOPLE'S SIDE.

SUPPORT A FREE PRESS.
WITH AN INITIAL AMOUNT OF 100 DENARS

Video of the day