Even the footage made by Pobjeda confirmed that Tara has been devastated, and it seems that the contractor – CRBC, the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism (MSDT) and “famous” hydrologist Mihailo Burić are the only ones who do not see it.
Burić’s assessment that this is only a turbidity of the river and not the consequences of the construction of the highway contradicts the common sense, and anyone who saw Tara after the construction machinery entered its riverbed can confirm this.
We could not have expected a different assessment from the expert paid by the Chinese company CRBC to do the Proposal of Remediation Measures and the Environmental Monitoring Programme on the Tara River, and he announces that a new plan of space monitoring and rehabilitation will be done.
Thus, Burić does not share views as an independent expert, but rather someone who has worked for CRBC.
That Tara has been devastated was confirmed by the UNESCO Mission, the European Commission in its report on Montenegro, international experts, and only Burić, CRBC and MSDT do not see it.
Burić told Pobjeda that these were temporary effects of turbidity and that Tara would not suffer the consequences of construction of the highway, since there was no living world in the river because of the drought and low water levels, not because of the construction site.
Over the last two years, MANS has been thoroughly involved in the construction of the highway, which is the largest investment in the history of Montenegro and a project that has an unprecedented environmental impact.
At the beginning of last week, Montenegrin public had the opportunity to make sure that, one year after the first footage was released, tons of construction waste generated by tunnelling were still dumped into the river Tara river despite recommendations by the European Parliament, the European Commission and UNESCO.
We also remind that four years since the start of construction of the highway, citizens do not have the most important information about this project, because everything was declared classified. Among other things, the results of the work of the inspection are classified, so it is unknown who is responsible for the devastation of Tara and who at the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism remained silent on devastation.
Dejan Milovac
Director of the MANS Investigative Centre
