The Ministry of Energy has finalized a bill that, based on the model of the National Road Infrastructure Management Company, will allow for expropriations for electricity transport and distribution networks in a very short term, announced the relevant minister, Bogdan Ivan, at the end of the Energy Command meeting.
“Currently, we have approximately 80% of the network that is about 30 years old. We are working on its modernization, but obviously it is a rather slow pace. From this point of view, we have two solutions that we are working on now and, just today, before I come to the Command, we finalized a bill that, based on the model of the National Highways Company, from CNAIR, we will be able to expropriate, in a very short term, everything that means electricity transport and distribution networks and storage”, said the minister, according to Agerpres.
He stressed that there is already a working group, together with the Prime Minister of Romania, Ilie Bolojan, to speed up the approval of this normative act, which will reduce by at least 80% the time in which all networks in Romania are built.
“I refer, first, to the bureaucracy, which blocks us and, on the model of highways, we also build electrical networks,” Ivan specified.
On the other hand, he mentioned that the legislation in another field will also be updated, namely regarding the forest fund, because there are areas where teams cannot intervene during the summer to clear vegetation around medium and low voltage lines.
“And, two, we are updating the legislation in another area, regarding the forest fund. There are areas where teams cannot intervene during the summer, because it is a forest fund, it is a protected natural area, and they cannot clear certain areas bordering medium and high voltage lines of vegetation and trees. And then, when the wind blows and the snow comes, the trees fall over those lines and, obviously, they put us in very difficult situations. For this reason, I love nature, but where there is a law, where there is an interest of the state, we must act. So we are updating the legislation there too, so that we are no longer blocked by protected areas and other fireworks that do a lot of harm to Romania and the national energy system”, Bogdan Ivan pointed out.