The main conclusion of the UNESCO mission that visited the construction site at the end of last year is that the construction of bridges, as well as the exploitation and disposal of gravel and sand, have seriously devastated the Tara riverbed within the area protected by the UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme.
Such assessment of UNESCO comes after both the European Commission and the European Parliament in their reports on Montenegro recognized the devastating impact of the construction of the Bar-Boljare highway on the Tara River and demanded urgent implementation of measures to remedy the devastation.
In the UNESCO report, it is noted that monitoring of compliance with environmental and biological standards during the construction of the highway is not adequate, that it does not meet all necessary parameters, especially in the part where the results of monitoring with the instructions for the necessary improvements are not communicated immediately to the contractor and supervising authorities, which would avoid the negative impact of the construction of the highway on the river.
What was testified by the footage of MANS Investigative Centre back in October last year, is now confirmed by the findings of UNESCO… The mission noted several landfills, dumps of sand and gravel in the flood area, as well as in the very Tara riverbed. UNESCO warns “although these issues can be addressed after the completion of the highway, it is clear that there will be visible impacts even after the completion of the construction”.
As the main negative impact of the construction, UNESCO notes the fact that toll ramps and inclusions/exclusion from the highway on Mateševo are planned and built in the so-called flood area, which results in destruction of the flood character of the river. As stated, this feature of the river is crucial to maintaining the ecological value of Tara, along with biodiversity, a particular fish fauna. Had there been no construction in this area, regulation would not have been necessary, and the impact on the ecology of the river would have been lower, according to the UNESCO report.
In recommendations, the Mission proposes to urgently assess and closely monitor the impact of the construction of the highway on the downstream area of the Tara River and to inform UNESCO of this on a regular basis. UNESCO’s recommendation is to change the existing Strategic Assessment in order to cover all potential impacts that the downstream works have, and to develop a rigorous Environmental Management Plan that will mitigate all negative impacts.
MANS, in cooperation with environmental organizations, has been urging the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism for months to stop ignoring the problem that exists on the Tara River, which is a direct consequence of the construction of the priority section of the Bar-Boljare highway.
Although more than half a year has passed since the first footage of the devastation and filing of the criminal charges, so far nobody has been held liable for what has been recognized from all relevant international addresses as an obvious violation of not only domestic regulations, but also internationally accepted obligations to protect the Tara River.
The data on whether and to what extent the Chinese company CRBC has been held liable are unknown because they were declared trade secret by the state, and according to what is publicly available, the line minister Pavle Radulović has done nothing to accept the recommendations of international institutions and mitigate the consequences of devastation.
Unfortunately, with such behaviour, Minister Radulović sends a direct message to contractors and subcontractors that the devastation will not be punished, that the profit is more important than the environmental protection, and above all, that his role in the complete project consists in protecting their, instead of the public interest.
In cooperation with environmental NGOs, MANS will continue to insist on the transparency of the entire project, and after determining the level of devastation of the measures for its rehabilitation, it will also insist on punishing of all those responsible for months-long devastation of the Tara River.
UNESCO Report
