On March 19, 2023, the village held a currently extreme meeting regarding the construction of a mini-hydroelectric power station with the community of the city and representatives of the company “Ekoenergetika”, which are planning the construction.
“We came to Vyhoda exclusively with an offer. There is a dam, there is a reservoir, there is water – conditions have been created to generate electricity. Our offer to the community was as follows: there is an opportunity to make a project, it is possible to generate electricity, pay taxes, create jobs. Exceptionally, the community has the right to say “yes” or “no,” Anton Seniuk notes.
Refuting all accusations of damage to nature as a result of the construction of the structure, the representative of the company “Ekoenergetika” replied that the company has all the necessary permits and environmental reports.
“Instead, the residents of Vyhoda, who oppose the construction, read the response of the Department of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Ivano-Frankivsk region to the request of the head of the Vyhoda community, Mykola Matsalak, from 2021. It states that the Svicha River is a landscape reserve, therefore the construction of energy facilities on it is a violation of the law “On the Natural Reserve Fund of Ukraine,” writes Suspilne.
At the meeting, representatives of the authorities expressed their support for the construction idea. Ihor Lapchuk, a deputy of the Patsykiv village council, says that this will create new jobs, shore fortification and stocking of the river, as well as avoiding the flooding of residential buildings located within 300 meters of it. Also, the head of the State Agency for Reclamation and Fisheries of the region, Lubomyr Strembitskyi, said that this structure will form a fish pond, and he does not see any harm to the ecology.
Local residents made opposing statements. Fisherman Vitaly Markiv noted that for more than 50 years, fish have been spawning in other ways. The man is more concerned about the quality of the research conducted within the construction project:
“I have never seen any monitoring groups here, so that someone is engaged in calculations somewhere. Maybe secretly, somewhere at night. There were years when I went to the river every day. No one knows and did not know what kind of fish could be found here. It’s just office calculations, but in reality there is no monitoring at all.”
Volodymyr Terenchyn added that the locals have concerns about the availability and quality of drinking water in the wells. According to him, problems with water are already felt.
Anatoliy Pavelko, an environmentalist lawyer from the NGO “Carpathian-Danube Program” told during the meeting that in 1993 the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council decided to create a local landscape reserve on the Svicha River, and the construction of the power plant could cause a number of problems.
“As a result of the construction of the hydroelectric power station, unpredictable changes in the hydrological regime may occur, because water must be withdrawn. As practice shows, in a low-water period, this type of power plant led to the fact that as a result of water intake for the turbine, there was no water left in the stream,” says Anatoly Pavelko.
On March 30, 2023, the issue of project approval will be finally considered at the session of the Vygoda Village Council. If the decision is supported, the company will be able to get the right to develop design and estimate documentation, the head of the Vygoda community, Mykola Matsalak, told Suspilno.
Note: on the “Right Sector – Dolyna” page, the political party stated that for more than 20 years of management by the owners of “Uniplit” (the structure of which “Ekoenergetika” belongs), the treatment facilities in Vygoda, the untreated sewage of which enters the Sajava River, have not been reconstructed , and then to Svicha and the Dniester.
