The installation of the first solar power plant, with a capacity of 1.7 megawatts, is expected as soon as possible, maybe in ten days, while by the end of the year there should be three of them in the area of the former Željezara, the executive director of EPCG Solar Željezar Đorđije Manojlović told Dan.
– The cleaning and arrangement of the plant is still in progress, but everything is going in the right direction and we expect that part of the work to be completed soon. The start of the building of the structures should also be completed soon, and the first plant should be put into operation. For the first one of 1.7 megawatts, the project is finished and its installation is moving quickly. The solar power plant project on the ground should be finished soon, in ten days, and it will have a capacity of 5 megawatts. The third one, which will have a power of up to 10 megawatts, should be installed by the end of the year, if everything goes according to the planned plans – said Manojlović.
He also said that the ower plant on the roof of the Vučionica plant should also be assembled and put into operation in the foreseeable future, but that the project is still pending revision.
– At the moment, around 200 workers are engaged in cleaning work, but a competition for the admission of an additional 30 workers is underway, so we expect that soon 230 of them will be officially employed at the start. We will accept new workers according to the needs, so that everything goes according to its course – said Manojlović.
The representative of the workers, Ivan Vujović, points out that the process of cleaning the factory is going according to the planned plan, and that it is expected that the workers will enter the plants as early as next month.
– Currently, there are about 200 employees on work contracts. We are currently cleaning the facilities and preparing them for future production. We also clear the factory area of overgrown trees and everything else. We hope that the first production plants will start already next month – said Vujović.
He also pointed out that the workers are much more satisfied when it comes to working conditions than they were in the previous period.
– The workers are satisfied, there is a huge difference now compared to before. Of course, after nine months of protests and strikes, the very return to work brought back people’s satisfaction. Well, we hope that after the announcement, the employment contracts will be resolved in the way that the workers expect – concluded Vujović.
In mid-February, Elektroprivreda (EPCG) paid the second installment and officially took over the Željezara complex from the then owner, Toščelik from Turkey. The entire job cost 20 million EUR, which was paid in two installments, and after the takeover, it is planned that the factory will no longer be engaged in the production of steel, but to reorient itself to the production of electricity from the sun, as well as the production of solar panels.
The takeover was preceded by nine months of protests
The protests of the Željezara workers marked the previous year, and were the reason for EPCG to buy the factory from the Turkish owner. The workers started the protests on June 2, after they were informed that Toščelik was suspending production, and that the workers would be at the labor office from September. Negotiations were conducted between the Government, Toščelik and the first interested party, Miodrag Daka Davidović, but they failed at the end of August, and only then did Elektroprivreda join the negotiations, which later took over the factory.
