Minister of the Environment, Waterways and Forestry Mircea Fechet said on Tuesday, after visiting the site of the Rastolita Dam, that by summer the required studies could be drawn up for the environmental permit to be issued and that he wants the hydropower plant to start generating electricity this year.

„Unfortunately, there is a delay of several weeks against the schedule we have pledged, but from our talks with Hidroelectrica we will have all four studies this June at the latest, if I remember correctly, we will have the public consultation process and we will have the environmental permit very quickly issued with all the legal requirements. Of course, at the same time we are working on drafting a government decision for removing from the forestry use the area that will serve the hydrotechnical facility there. I made sure that all institutions are synchronised, and I want very much that this year we will be in a situation where we have the first kilowatt of electricity produced at the Rastolita reservoir,” Fechet told a press conference at the Mures National Liberal Party (PSD) headquarters.

He added that since taking office as minister he has had discussions both with the prefect of Mures, Ciprian Dobre, and with other officials regarding the situation of the Rastolita dam.

The minister said that, on Tuesday, he visited the dam together with representatives of the National Environmental Protection Agency, along with the Mures Water Basin Administration, the Waterway Management System, the National Agency for Protected Areas, with representatives of the organisations that will decide on the future of hydroelectric facility.

„This hydroelectric facility, unfortunately, has advanced very slowly lately and I wanted to go to the site today (…) I also visited the construction site, I noticed what I was told in the past, namely that the works are very advanced and especially in the complicated context in which we find ourselves today and I mean first of all Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, I believe that such investment projects should be completed as soon as possible. I sent a very strong message to my colleagues who are going to evaluate all those studies that are going to have them available (…). I told them we shouldn’t waste a day. We have to follow a schedule, but we are already behind schedule.”

AGERPRES