The Administration for Inspection Affairs designated findings on the control over the section of the highway, reports on protection measures of the Tara River, as well as misdemeanour orders against the contractor – CRBC, as a trade secret.
The findings of the inspection of the control over the section of the future highway, copies of the reports on protection measures of the Tara River, as well as misdemeanour orders against the contractor, Chinese company China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), are a trade secret of the Administration for Inspection Affairs.
Their disclosure, claims the Administration, would cause more damage than the public’s interest in knowing.
This is the Government’s response to several requests from the Network for Affirmation of NGO Sector (MANS) for access to copies of all documents issued by the Inspections within the Administration in connection with the construction of the subsection 4.4.1 of the Bar-Boljare highway, Smokovac-Uvač-Mateševo section, in the area of cadastral municipalities Jabuka and Mateševo in the Municipality of Kolašin.
MANS, in accordance with the Law on Free Access to Information, submitted several such requests at the end of October last year.
All MANS’ requests were rejected by the Administration for Inspection Affairs.
In the explanations of the Administration for Inspection Affairs (AIA), signed by the director Alija Košuta, it is stated that disclosing of the inspection findings before the completion of the project would not be in accordance with the applicable regulations and laws by which the project was designated as a trade secret.
They also claim that there would be “harmful consequences for the first instance body” and that, before the completion of the procedure and taking of legal measures, disclosing of the requested information would cause harmful consequences that are greater than the public’s interest.
AIA also rejected MANS’s request for access to copies of the reports on the implementation of environmental protection measures on the Tara River, where works are being carried out on subsection 4.4.1, and the request for obtaining all decisions on imposing a fine noted by the ecological inspections during inspections at that site.
AIA claims that, apart from having harmful consequences, it would be illegal to publish these reports before the end of the proceedings.
The Administration also had the same explanation for not providing copies of all requests for misdemeanours submitted by the water inspectors and environmental inspectors to the competent courts on the grounds of identified irregularities at the site of 4.4.1 subsection, in the area of CM Jabuka and CM Mateševo, Municipality of Kolašin.
MANS reminds that according to the Law on Inspection Control, inspection supervision is public.
Director of the MANS Investigative Centre, Dejan Milovac, found the practice of AIA “to protect the Chinese company CRBC from the citizens of Montenegro and actively participate in the outrageous hiding of information about devastation of the Tara River” completely unacceptable.
“There is no doubt that the inspection will have to provide answers to the questions asked, not only because of the law on free access to information, but above all because their original law stipulates that inspection supervision must be public,” he told “Vijesti”.
Milovac reminds that in the past period several government officials stated that CRBC was not connived and that the Chinese company engaged in highway works “is appropriately sanctioned when it is found that the regulations are violated.”
“Unfortunately, with the stance of the inspection where absolutely everything is hidden, we are left to believe the Government officials like the Minister of Sustainable Development and Environment Pavle Radulović, which, it turned out, is not the best way to get to the truth and facts,” Milovac said.
He also says that the Chinese company CRBC “performs works on the basis of the projects it created itself”, and that the line ministry declared these projects as classified documents.
“We now have the situation that control over the implementation of these projects, i.e. construction of the highway – is also a secret. This is hardly acceptable for small scale projects, let alone the current largest investment in infrastructure, both in terms of finance and the extent of the environmental impact.”
The practice of hiding information from citizens, Milovac adds, can only be in favour of CRBC, which “already proved that it does not comply with regulations and laws”.
He assessed that such practice is in favour of the Ministry of Transport itself as an investor in the construction of the highway project.
MANS urges the Administration for Inspection Affairs to submit the requested information without delay even before the court decision.
“Because the undisputed interest of the Montenegrin public is to know what is happening on the construction sites of the country’s most expensive project at the moment,” Milovac said.
Pursuant to Article 8 of the Law on Inspection Control, the inspection control is public.
“The inspection control procedure shall be public. In the cases of protection of private person’s life and health, or in the cases of severe violation of the public interest, inspection authority shall be obliged to inform the public on the factual state and irregularities established during the inspection control procedure”, it is stated in the Law.
In October and November, due to devastation of the Tara River, in cooperation with six environmental NGOs, MANS filed criminal charges with the Special State Prosecutor against the responsible persons in the ministries of transport and sustainable development and tourism, environmental and water inspection, members of the commission for supervision of works on the highway and Chinese company CRBC.
The charges were filed due to reasonable suspicion of abuse of office, negligence in the performance of supervision duties, and causing of environmental pollution.
To date, there has been no answer from the State Prosecutor’s Office.
