Water Reservoir Administration of the southeastern region of Plovdiv is subordinate to the Ministry of Environment and Waters. Its main goal is to issue licences for water-usage and usage of water reservoirs in accordance to the Water Law. These licences include the following: Information about the private individuals or businesses that are going to use the water and/or the water reservoir; The type of the resources or the site, for which the licences have been issued; Parameters of the water-usage and/or the usage of water reservoirs; Conditions for the usage; Technical parameters of the equipment; Duration of the licence. In today?s copy of the Maritsa newspaper we are reading that the Water Reservoir Administration registers about four candidates for licences weekly. There is large interest towards construction of hydroelectric power stations in the region, and the predominant part concern construction works on the Maritsa and the Arda rivers. According to the Administration?s director, Dipl.Eng. Nikola Kurnolski, seventy applications for construction of hydroelectric power stations have been filed since August 2003. One of the latest is the application of a company from Sofia, interested to build power stations on three spots simultaneously:
? On the Maritsa river, near the Manole village? On the Maritsa river, near the Polatovo village? On the Stryama river, near the Ivan Vazovo villageThe Water Reservoir Administration collects the applications of investment intention by all the candidates. That application of investment intention is further sent to the respective municipality, on which territory the water reservoir, where the power station is intended to be built, is.The Municipality opened a procedure rendering the usage of the water for production of electricity. The announcement is on for a month, then, if no objections are received, the candidates file a second, more detailed, application with the administration, accompanied by a project for the technical implementation of the intention.Between 1.5 and 2 million leva are necessary for the construction of a small hydroelectric power station, which are paid back within a 5 to 6 years? period.According to Dipl.Eng. Kurnolski, there is a real interest in construction these power stations due to the fact that the product has a buyer guaranteed ? The National Electrical Company.