Bitola, 26 August 2022 (MIA) – The miners are our priceless human resource, said the Minister of Economy, Kreshnik Bekteshi marking Miners’ Day in REK Bitola on Friday. According to Bekteshi, mining is one of the fundamental branches for the industrial development of the country, and keeping in mind the current global trends, this industry will become an essential factor for survival and development. “North Macedonia has immeasurable natural wealth and because of that we should pay more attention, and care for all mineral deposits. In the past period we faced serious challenges in this sector, especially concerning environmental protection, which resulted in legislative amendments significantly strengthening the control over the work of the concessionaires,” said Bekteshi. While marking Miners’ Day in the Mining and Energy Combine REK Bitola, the Minister pointed out that thanks to the efforts of the miners and ESM employees, the previous winter was successful and without problems, and that they are ready to fulfill the demands and needs of the consumers in 2022 as well. “The work of the miners is heroic, with great efforts and labor they are working to increase production. I encourage the ESM leadership to continue improving their work conditions in order to deal with the biggest energy crisis in the last decade. In the neighbouring countries they are saying there will be, there are energy restrictions, but I am convinced that through hard work, with the miners’ efforts, all of us together shall overcome this energy crisis,” said Bekteshi. ESM is ready for the upcoming winter season because of the efforts of their employees who enable the system to work at full capacity and remain functional, said the Director General of ESM, Vasko Kovachevski. “Coal is the foundation of ESM’s electricity production, and the importance of the miners is evident during the energy crisis, when the maximum effort is undertaken to extract as much coal as possible in order to ensure that the system works at full capacity and remains functional. The last heating season showed that with a strong commitment by everyone, beginning from the employees, the managers, directors, together we can overcome all crises. The last heating season ended successfully, but a new one, by all predictions perhaps the most difficult one in the last 70 years in Europe, remains ahead. We must work with even greater commitment and effort, both for ourselves and for all citizens,” said Kovachevski. The Head of ESM reminded of the management’s work to improve work conditions. “New excavation machinery has been acquired worth over 20 million euro, six new eco-buses for the transportation of workers worth around 2 million euro, new vehicles for transportation of workers within the mine of over 600.000 euro, and much more. These procurements, besides their economic and technological value, also contribute to the work conditions of our employees,” said Kovachevski. He added that the company aims to invest more in the future and that they are already doing that, both in the current, but also in new production capacities. “We are and will be investing in renewable energy sources, in accordance with the country’s energy strategy, but we are also investing in the maintenance of the power plants, especially in REK Bitola, because without energy from thermal power plants it is impossible to maintain a stable and secure energy system. Until we build the gas power plant meant to replace two blocks of the thermal power plant, and until we build Chebren, we have to rely on REK Bitola and REK Oslomej,” said Kovachevski. ESM informed that construction is ongoing on photovoltaic power plants in REK Bitola, which would produce green energy with a capacity of 280 MW and replace one block of the thermal power plant. ad/ba/