The representatives of Electrocentrale Bucureşti (Elcen) argue that the City Hall should pay the subsidy on time, instead of trying every time to find a “scapegoat” for the problems that the institution fails to manage.

In the case of pollution in Bucharest, the general mayor, Gabriela Firea, announced on Wednesday that the City Hall has “several tracks, variants of possible industrial polluters”, mentioning that these assumptions are based on a series of information. “We received the information that the CETs of Grozaveşti and Progresu may have burned more fuel oil and had unclean filters. This is a clue,” said Firea.

According to company representatives, in recent years, Elcen has not been able to make major investments in the modernization of installations and equipment, although it has old plants from the 60s-70s, due to the fact that the City Hall of Bucharest (PMB) has not fulfilled its payment obligations, according to Agerpres.

“Instead of trying every time to find a scapegoat for the problems that the City Hall cannot manage, the optimal variant would be for the PMB to pay the subsidy on time, as such steps are in fact the real problem. Instead of supporting major infrastructure projects, PMB has chosen to spend significant sums on festivals and concerts, and moreover, Ms. Mayor has preferred to choose the easier way to divert attention from the numerous failures and from the district heating network now in a disastrous situation due to the lack of investments, as well as from the major risk that the people of Bucharest will be left without heat and hot water, launching tendentious, incorrect and incomplete statements regarding Elcen’s activity,” the statement noted.

Elcen representatives argue that a 1.2% fuel oil consumption cannot influence a significant increase of pollutant emissions into the atmosphere and, consequently, does not affect the safety and health of the population.