Kosovo north neither pays water bills

Residents of these Kosovo municipalities, since 1999, do not pay bills for the spent water. It's about municipalities: Leposaviq, Northern Mitrovica, Zubin Potok and Zvecan, inhabited by Serb majority and, among the years, have operated outside Kosovo's constitutional judicial system.

The issue of water failure, the current of other services, has been raised to the level of discussions several times in recent years, but no solution has yet been found.

Consumers of these municipalities are supplied with drinking water from the Regional Company, the “Mitrovica”.

Niman Baliu, spokesman at the company, in a conversation for Radio Free Europe, shows that for the last 21 years, only last year has a payment of 60 thousand euros.

Mitrovica's “, since 1999, has been supplied with drinking water and have not paid for water at all. In 2019, for the first time in the name of northern Mitrovica, a fee of 60,401 euros has been made, he says.

The Regional Company, the “Mitrovica”, is located in Shipol, Mitrovica, and is the only company licensed to carry out drinking water supply activity and canal maintenance in the Mitrovica region, including three other northern municipalities.

This company is under the umbrella of Water Services Regulatory Authority (ARRU).

The Aliu flower, official in this Authority, says that over six million cubic feet [6 million cubic m] of water has been sent to the north during the past year.

Some of the citizens of that section also admit that they do not pay water. One of them is Dusan Trifunovic from Northern Mitrovica, who does not remember paying his water bills.

As far as I know, no. I don't know others pay, but for now I don't know what's going to happen in the future, he says.

On the other hand, Dragan Bozovic of Zubin Potok's municipality says he pays municipal services, including water bills, according to him. However, those bills are paid by Serbia's dinars, meaning it's not about water pipeline bills “Mitrovica”.

I'm paying. I pay municipal services. The bills come from 300 dinars (Serbia's wave), or 2.5 euros, where water and municipal services enter. As far as supply is concerned, I don't call it reductions, but sometimes there are disruptions that I think come from unnecessary water spending”, he says.

The default on spent water bills makes the regional company's activity difficult, the “Mitrovica”, says Niman Baliu.

“Normically that presents financial problems and often burdens the financial situation of the company when it is known that our company, untreated water, provides (broad) from the company {Iber Lepenciʹ and, per month, pays a 50 thousand euros/”, Baliu says.

According to him, the entire amount of water purchased by the company “Iber Lepenci”, through electric pumps, is sent to the Shipol water plant, producing huge electricity and debt costs to KASO.

Then the untreated water is subject to the treatment process with which we have expenses to buy chemicals, the workforce, the distribution, the network, etc. And all of this creates financial (uncovered) obligations that are a heavy burden to the company and normally affect the company's financial situation”, Baliu points out.

In addition to failing to pay spent water bills, residents of this part of Kosovo do not pay electricity bills, which account for 8m euros annually.

On this issue, the ombudsman had initiated investigations by sending the subject to court as well.

And the Court of Appeals has ruled that the Electric Energy Regulatory Office suspends the decision that the current spent on that part is billed to citizens of other regions.