Prompted by recent media releases on social networks related to the work of the institutions of the City of Mostar and operation of the Public Company ˮELEKTROPRIVREDA HRVATSKE ZAJEDNICE HERCEG BOSNEˮ joint-stock company Mostar, we want to provide the public with a comprehensive and fact-based insight into the actual course of event which preceded the entry of data change of user of the real estates mentioned in the releases, all with the aim of providing accurate and true information to the public and protection of the Company’s business interests.

In an effort to fully align the administrative situation with the one on the ground, the Public Company ˮELEKTROPRIVREDA HRVATSKE ZAJEDNICE HERCEG BOSNEˮ joint-stock company Mostar submitted to the City of Mostar – the Cadastre Office on 15 June 2021 a request to change data on the user of real estates in cadastral municipalities in which Hydropower plant on Neretva was registered as an integral part of the pre-war Elektroprivreda SR BiH.

When submitting the relevant request to the City of Mostar – the Cadastre Office, as the first-instance body, all relevant documentation was provided demonstrating that the possession of the HPP Mostar (which was an integral part of the Hidroelektrane na Neretvi of the pre-war Elektroprivreda SR BiH) and the belonging real estates in the HPP Mostar zone of coverage indisputably belongs to the Public Company ˮELEKTROPRIVREDA HRVATSKE ZAJEDNICE HERCEG BOSNEˮ joint-stock company Mostar, which proves the legal sequence until the registration of this public company into the real estate cadastre. The public company has proved in the administrative procedure that it is in factual possession of the said real estates, that it has been managing the HPP Mostar since 1992, and that the said HPP is one of the seven hydropower plants from the portfolio of this public company.

Adopting the Decision on the change of possessor, The City of Mostar – the Cadastre Office acted legally and in accordance with the instructions of the Federal Geodetic Administration given in the Decision number: 07-27-2-1706/2022 from 28 November 2022, in which Decision the Federal Geodetic Administration acted upon the administrative appeal of this public company against the first-instance Decision of the Cadastre Office, which rejected the request of the Public Company ˮELEKTROPRIVREDA HRVATSKE ZAJEDNICE HERCEG BOSNEˮ joint-stock company Mostar as premature.

After the adoption of the said Decision of the Federal Geodetic Administration, in the Cadastre Office of the City of Mostar a new oral hearing was held on 10 September 2024, and despite the urgencies sent by this public company, no Decision in the said administrative matter was brought, although the legally prescribed deadline for this matter was 60 (sixty) days from the date of submission of the request.

Taking into account all the mentioned facts and circumstances, we believe that the administrative procedure for changing data on the real estate user, initiated in 2021, lasted unreasonably long, and that the first-instance decision of the City of Mostar – the Cadastre Office was justifiably annulled and referred for a full reassessment with clear instructions by the Federal Geodetic Administration.

We believe that the mentioned media release are not based on the facts conducted in the procedure and that determining the right to change the possessor in this, as well as in any other matter, should not be conducted in public media but exclusively through competent institutions and in the manner prescribed by applicable laws.