At today’s conference, organized by NGO MANS, comments on the latest UNESCO Committee report on Montenegro were presented, with a special emphasis on the impact of the construction of the highway on the Tara River, as well as a new MANS service for increasing citizens’ participation in the adoption of public policies.
NGOs Network for Affirmation of NGO Sector (MANS), Green Home and the Center for Protection and Research of birds (CZIP) will ask the Parliamentary Committee on Tourism, Agriculture, Ecology and Spatial Planning to organise control hearings of the Minister of Transport Osman Nurković and the Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism Pavle Radulović, after the report confirmed that the construction of the highway has devastated the Tara River.
“Pavle Radulović, as a public official, is the embodiment of everything that is not right regarding the construction of the highway, who continues to protect the interests of the contractor and who throughout all these months has convinced the public of Montenegro that everything is alright, that there is nothing disputable with the construction,” said Lazar Grdinić from the MANS Investigative Centre.
Nataša Kovačević from NGO Green Home told at the press conference that it would take ten years to restore biodiversity, and that the construction of the bridge has devastated the Tara river basin, as noted in the UNESCO report.
Ksenija Medenica from the Center for Protection and Research of birds confirms that the line Ministry has not made a statement regarding the report’s findings.
“This is the fourth document of a relevant international organization dealing with the issue of endangerment of Tara in the process of building the highway. On the other hand, there is an indolent attitude of the executive authorities and all those people who are paid by the money of the citizens of Montenegro, and who are responsible for taking care of the environment. Therefore, we ask the Parliament of Montenegro to use its controlling function and question the ministers Radulović and Nurković,” added Grdinić.
At the press conference, a new mobile application “Pitajte poslanike“ (“Ask MPs“) was presented by NGO MANS within the framework of the implementation of the project “Improving of parliamentary monitoring and accountability in Montenegro”, supported by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF).
In this way, citizens will be able to engage in campaign related to the protection of the Tara River, as well as to ask any questions to MPs in the Parliament of Montenegro.
The app for Android users can be downloaded via the Google Play Store, and those who do not have Adroid mobile phones can ask an MP a question via contact form available on the MANS website. Users are also able to ask questions anonymously.
Questions with offensive content will be returned to the user for correction, in order to respect parliamentary function.
