Hafsa al-Ulama (pictured left), ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, and Petar Ivanović (pictured right), Montenegro’s minister of agriculture and rural development, attended the launch of a pellet manufacturing facility in a wood processing complex in Pljevlja on April 6. Dragan Brković (middle), chief executive of company Vektra Jakić d.o.o., said the new system’s development lasted four years due to a halt in financing from OTP Bank. The investment component for energy generation should be completed by September as well as all remaining parts of the industrial block, according to owners. The new facility employs 25 people and already has contracts for exporting pellet, the ministry said.
Brković stated experts from Germany will be training the workers and that production begins at 50% capacity, while the full volume of 65,000 tonnes per year should be reached in September. That’s when pulpwood will enter production. The project with the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development is worth USD 50 million (EUR 43.9 million), and contracts so far cover EUR 14.5 million.
Al-Ulama expressed pleasure that everything that was presented to her five months earlier got implemented. She added the pellet, manufactured by standards of the European Union, is one of the best kinds in the world.
Vektra Jakić’s account is blocked for three months continuously by the local authority in Pljevlja, located in the country’s north. The real estate tax debt climbed to EUR 730,000, Montenegrin newspaper Dan carried. Municipality head Mirko Đačić stated that last year the account was blocked several times. Additionally, the company owes EUR 800,000 to the local government for forest management concessions, the article adds. Officials from Pljevlja didn’t attend the launch of the pellet factory. Vektra Jakić exited bankruptcy in 2014 and it is still struggling to expand production, according to Dan. The company sells timber and produces boards, the article said.
