The hydropower plants in the Jiului Gorge. What the head of CJ Gorj says about the resumption of work – GorjOnline

Hidroelectrica announced, through a press release, that, between April 28-30, there was a working visit by the Secretary of State from the Ministry of Energy, Marius Negru, to the development in Bumbeşti-Livezeni. He was accompanied by Bogdan Badea, head of Hidroelectrica, and Marius Grecu, chief plant engineer at Târgu-Jiu.

Representatives of the local authorities involved in the reissuance of the building permit for the Bumbeşti-Livezeni hydropower development were also invited to the discussions. The president of the Gorj County Council, Cosmin Popescu, says a calendar has been fixed for the resumption of the works.

“I had a working meeting with the representative of the Ministry of Energy, Mr. Secretary of State Marius Negru, Mr. Bogdan Badea, member of the directorate, the director of investments, with representatives of Hidorelectrica Târgu-Jiu, Portile de Fier, as well as representatives of Transelectrica, Defileul National Park Jiului and other advisory institutions in this project. Yes, the decision is to take over the project, because this project has been declared of public utility and national interest. We specifically discussed the steps that must be followed in terms of approval and obtaining the environmental approval, because Hidroelectrica, together with the Ministry of Energy, are nearing the end and manage to submit the documentation for obtaining the environmental approval, as well as the documentation for obtaining the environmental approval at the Jiului Gorge National Park. It was a good, important visit, because we want this, especially since the physical stage of the works is somewhere over 90% completed and I think that, this year, we can say that, after obtaining the environmental approval, we will issue the building authority, because I was accompanied by the chief architect of the county, Mr. Cămui, and I established concrete steps and I believe that, this year, the works will be resumed on this important Bumbești-Livezeni sector to put into operation the two hydropower plants in which hundreds of millions of euros have been invested. We have the fixed calendar, the documentation submitted to the Ministry of the Environment to issue the approval follows, the documentation submitted necessary for the Defileul Jiului National Park and also the documentation submitted for the Timișoara National Roads Section, Transelectrica and also the documentation for issuing the building permit to Gorj County Council. The completion of this investment would generate clean energy for 85,000 households, 259 gigawatts per year, it is important for the Romanian energy system, because we see what is happening with energy production, prices. Bureaucratic obstacles can appear at any time, that’s why we met to discuss concretely. As long as Hidroelectrica respects the law, prepares the documentation required by the law, I don’t think that anyone should object”, said Cosmin Popescu.