Pavle Radulović, the Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism, acknowledged what MANS had been pointing out to the public for days – that the construction of the highway has caused a major environmental problem and that the Tara River has been devastated.
Yesterday, within the framework of the International Conference on Water supply and Wastewater Treatment, the Minister said that the completion of the highway will be delayed until all environmental standards are met, but did not specify what are those standards, whether someone will be held responsible for that and how much it will eventually cost citizens.
On the other hand, it is obvious that the minister found out about the situation on Tara only after MANS had posted the footage, which shows that the riverbed is displaced and devastated beyond recognition. In addition, experts warn that the structure of the bottom of the Tara River has changed, while the biodiversity of the coast and landscape have been ruined.
Instead of attempting to justify clear omissions of the Government and the contractor, MANS once again urges the Minister Radulović, and other responsible government authorities, to publish without delay all relevant documentation regarding the highway, which is currently classified as secret. This particularly applies to documents that would unambiguously indicate who is responsible for the devastation of Tara, but also highlight how and if all the damage will be repaired.
There is still an open question regarding the construction of the Mateševo loop: has the Chinese company built contrary to permits and thus caused damage to the internationally protected river, or its devastation was already planned in the permits issued by the government, which had been hidden from the public until MANS released the footage last week.
According to the Law on Free Access to Information, MANS requested all relevant ecological and technical documentation from the competent institutions, based on which it can be seen the planned volume of works in the Tara River and how it will be protected.
Among other things, the River Revitalization Plan is requested, if such exists, to see in what way the revitalization of the river is planned, as well as the amount of its costs and who will bear them. In addition, we expect the Administration for Inspection Affairs to submit all decisions it has made concerning the construction on Tara, especially considering that the Minister noted that the controls were rigorous and that the inspections had written several penalties for the Chinese company that is carrying out the works.
In addition, MANS once again requested reports from the two state commissions engaged in the audit and technical inspection of works on the highway, whose work was declared in advance as secret, reports of the Italian-French Consortium “Ingerop MN”, which controls and supervises works, as well as reports of the state-owned company “Monteput”. Let us remind that at least €15 million have been allocated for the management of the construction of the highway, led by the aforementioned commission, the supervisor and a special unit of “Monteput”, and this figure will be even higher if the Smokovac-Mateševo section is not built within the planned deadline, as several official addresses confirmed that it will happen.
We also expect to publish the conceptual design of the highway, all reports on pollution to date, environmental protection programme, reports on expert supervision, etc.
State authorities continue to refuse to provide the public with an insight into the documents necessary for adequate public control of all affairs regarding the highway, which could prevent further devastation of the Tara River, but also highlight other potential “black spots” at the construction site of the first section of the highway. We remind that the documentation that MANS obtained shows that the government has already been warned that the construction of the highway in the Tara region could have enormous impact on the area of the entire river basin, while the situation on the ground clearly shows that the worst case scenario took place in practice.
Finally, MANS expects the Supreme State Prosecutor, to whom the criminal complaint was submitted, to launch an investigation and determine the responsibility for devastation of the river that citizens already defended once and managed to rescue it from the intrusion of large capital interests, while now it is being threatened by the irresponsibility and non-transparency of those who we pay to protect our interest.
MANS
