04.04.2012.
Minister visits Prva iskra Baric
Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac, Assistant Minister for Material Resources Ilija Pilipovic, Deputy Chief of General Staff Maj. Gen. Milan Bjelica visited today the company "Prva iskra-defense industry" in Baric.During the visit, Defence Minister spoke to general manager of the company Stanoje Biovanin, followed by a visit to the production facilities - renewed drying facility for the regeneration and production of high explosives, hexogen and octogen, where the reconstruction work is in progress.
Sutanovac pointed out that "Prva iskra” was an extremely important system for defense and the defense industry of Serbia.
- The fact is that the factory during the bombing in 1999 sustained extensive damage, and later the explosion which occurred caused even more damage, but the work in the factory shows a promising future, said Sutanovac and stressed this was cold be supported by the fact that in the past four years, production had increased manifold .
According to minister, the salaries have increased by about sixty percent in the factory for about 150 people while there are major contracts to be implemented over the next two to three years.- this only bespeaks of the fact that the factory has a future and bright prospects and I am glad that a crisis period that was extremely difficult for the factory is now over, while also being able to meet the needs of defense system, especially in exports, along with the exports from all other plants - Sutanovac said.
He pointed out that the factory was unique in this part of Europe and that is what normally requires some investment.
- Today we discussed the possibilities of help provided by Ministry of Defence, and we believe that other ministries can do invest some effort too, because the product range that exists here has buyers outside the country, largely in the European Union, and in countries of the United States, which means this factory is worth investing into - said the minister.
The Minister announced that MoD would analyze the possibility of building warehouses, but there are other projects that the plant and the Ministry of Defense can accomplish together.- I think this factory is a god example of how you can run a factory in difficult conditions and when difficulties strike in the direction of developing and employing people. What we are very pleased with is that the workers are receiving regular salaries, which are above an average salary in Serbia, which is promising, the minister said, expressing hope that the future would be even better.
General Manager of Prva iskra said that they used the visit of the minister to acquaint him with problems the factory was facing. He noted that the company started with renewing and rehabilitating facilities for synthesis of the most powerful high explosives - octogen and hexogen, which were first destroyed during the NATO bombing in 1999, then renewed, only to be put out of operation after the explosion on 29th May 2006.
With our own efforts and with the help of the Ministry of Defense, “Prva iskra" will again enter the program and produce octogen and hexogen, that only a few countries in the world produce.
The company Prva iskra-defense industry was founded in 1939 on an old plant of the company "VISTAD" and in 1946 it was the first to start producing TNT. It is the only domestic defense factory company that produces, develops, regenerates, and sells both military and civilian (commercial) explosives. Their products are designed for industries that use explosives such as mining, oil and gas industry, metal processing industry, the traffic industry, and producers of mines and industrial explosives.It also produces high octane explosives (TNT, DNT, hexogen, octogen, PETN, and their composition) using their own technologies. In order to solve the problem of excess neutralization of mines, they developed the technology of delaboration of mines and processing all kinds of delaborated explosives.
