(21 September 2015) Today, in the premises of the Economic Chamber, the Minister of Environment and Physical Planning Nurhan Izairi opened the public technical debate on the draft amendment of the Water Management Master Plan of the Republic of Macedonia concerning water accumulation “Jagmular” on Bregalnica River and the draft of the amendment was presented.
Bearing in mind the importance of the matter faced by this region, Minister Izairi pointed out that, beside in the frames of the legal obligations, today’s debate was also organized for the purpose of elaborating a document of as high quality as possible by incorporation of expert considerations and needs of all stakeholders.
In his address, he added:
- The Master Plan as document concerns the whole territory of the country aimed at integrated planning and implementation of programmes and measures for waters development in line with the national development and harmonization of economic development and social progress. The current Water Management Master Plan of the Republic of Macedonia as a document of 1976 can no longer fulfill the above criteria for the goals it is adopted and therefore proper utilization of water potential requires preparation of a new one. For that end, the Ministry was addressed by the Municipality of Shtip and the Public Enterprise for National Roads requesting amendment of the Water Management Master Plan of the Republic of Macedonia in relation to multi-purpose water accumulation Jagmular which is planned to supply water for Shtip and surrounding villages, water for irrigation of 900 ha agricultural land, utilization for energy and protection from downstream areas flooding. It has been planned with location on the river Bregalnica at 25 km from its entry into the River Vardar or 18 km upstream of the City of Shtip.
Considering the fact that more than 40 years have passed since the elaboration of the Water Management Master Plan of the Republic of Macedonia, hydrological data having strong influence on water management facilities has changed, the needs of water users have changed and new urban planning documents have been shaped leading to the necessity of changing the parameters of the water accumulation Jagmular. For the purposes of the implementation of the express road A4 section Shtip-Radovish, the Public Enterprise for state roads elaborated draft version of the amendment to the 1976 Water Management Master Plan of the Republic of Macedoniafor the water accumulation Jagmular on Bregalnica River. The developer – Construction Institute Macedonia – has proposed alternative solution based on existing technical documentation, geodetic plans, opinions obtained from interested municipalities, demands of water users and collected hydrological data for the period 1961- 2010 and this should satisfy the present demands of all users and enable construction of the planned express road А4 Shtip-Radovish section.