Company Praha d.o.o., founded by Rajko Đuričić, who left Bosnia and Herzegovina for the Czech Republic during the war with his wife Ljiljana, launched a 150 kW solar power station in the community of Brankovići near Žepče. The site in the central part of the country saw an investment of EUR 250,000, which took four years to be implemented. The facility was put in a test drive in December.
Đuričić said contracts regulating obligations of the producer and state institutions are firm. Asked about the process of producing necessary paperwork, he stressed it was an ordeal and that he was close to giving up. However, he added, there was assistance by local officials and the Czech embassy. Municipality head Mato Zovko and Petr Kašička, head of the commerce department at the embassy, opened the photovoltaic plant with Đuričić. Also present were Josip Martić, federal minister of physical planning, Zvonimir Anđelić, minister of economy of Zenica-Doboj Canton, representatives of the municipal development agency, public companies and Procredit Bank.
Zovko said the municipality is working with investors all the way from the initiation of a project. Kašička said the embassy helps investments of this kind and that BiH should also support them already from the start, as endeavours in green energy are very expensive. The project of another solar power plant in Žepče is in the pipeline.
