Residents of Brezna File Lawsuit Against CGES, Demand Hearing with EBRD Representatives

The residents of Gornja Brezna have filed a lawsuit against the state-owned energy company Montenegrin Electricity Transmission System (CGES), which plans to build a massive 400kV substation in the center of their village, followed by an international energy hub. The villagers, organized under the Citizens’ Initiative “Save Brezna”, only learned of this plan a few months ago and have since been fighting to stop a project they say would destroy their village and life within it.

Local Community Gornja Brezna to CGES: Are You Trying to Intimidate the Local Community Fighting to Save Their Homes?

The Montenegrin State Energetic Company CGES Falsified Data for EBRD to Obtain €28 Million Loan for Substation in Brezna

Through their lawsuit, they are also demanding that the court hear representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), in order to formally establish what they call the “undeniable facts.”

The mountain village of Gornja Brezna, in the Piva region, is the only village in the municipality of Plužine – and likely in all of Montenegro – that has been intensively developing in recent years. Young people and families are moving in, opening rural households and building tourist facilities, which are largely filled with foreign visitors for up to 250 days a year.

The residents of Gornja Brezna discovered that CGES, in the project documentation it submitted to secure a €28 million loan from the EBRD for the construction of the substation, concealed the existence of an entire human community of several hundred residents. CGES provided false information to the EBRD, claiming that within a 2 km radius of the planned 400kV substation there were no residential or commercial properties.

“We listed only the owners of existing buildings and those under construction within 2 km and counted 75, while the number of landowners is much higher. Since almost all owners have two or more buildings, there are around 200 houses, barns, and tourist facilities within the 2 km radius of the planned 400kV substation. How is it possible that such a powerful company like CGES ‘didn’t see’ 200 buildings? For this reason, we have strong grounds to believe CGES deliberately hid the existence of our homes and an entire living village in order to bypass the strict procedures and high standards of the EBRD concerning local communities and their protection,” the Save Brezna initiative stated.

They emphasize that EBRD procedures require local communities affected by projects financed by the bank to be involved from the earliest stages of planning, and that the impact on people and nature must be minimized.

“In our case, the intention of CGES and the state of Montenegro – both the current and previous governments – was to hide our existence, because they are aware that building an international energy project in a residential area would mean the end of life here and the complete devaluation of residents’ private property. We are certain that the EBRD, had it been given this information, would never have supported the project – just as it refused to support the destruction of the village of Krallje during highway construction. According to our reliable sources, the Montenegrin government, through Monteput, relocated the highway route precisely at the request of the European Union and the EBRD in order to preserve over 50 houses and a local community in that village.”

They add that in Gornja Brezna around 200 structures and an entire community of several hundred people are directly endangered if the construction of the 400kV substation and international energy hub proceeds. They demand that the facilities be relocated to another site where the impact on people and nature would be minimal.

“There are plenty of such locations in the Piva region, because northern Montenegro has been devastated by destructive policies over the past decades. Instead of the municipality of Plužine and the Montenegrin government encouraging and concretely supporting every young person returning to the village, they are united in their intention to destroy our village and expel us from our land. We will not allow this at any cost,” Save Brezna declared.

Over the past several months, the residents of Brezna have made public appeals to numerous institutions, including Montenegro’s top leadership – the President, the Prime Minister, and the Speaker of Parliament – insisting that they intervene to save their lives, property, and the future of their village. However, none of them has responded or taken notice.

“For our state and its institutions, we are still ‘a village that does not exist.’ But we will not give up until they see us, acknowledge that we exist, and relocate this planned energy monster to a safe distance from our homes and land,” they concluded.