Data presented yesterday by the National Council for the Fight against High-Level Corruption confirm our suspicions that the government of Duško Marković was thoroughly acquainted with the devastation of the Tara River from the very beginning of the construction of the highway. The documentation shows that the former government actively worked on covering up the violations of the law by the Chinese company CRBC, while at the same time deceiving the public that everything was fine with the construction of the highway.
On the other hand, the devastation of Tara continued even after the appointment of the government of Zdravko Krivokapić, which has not provided answers to key questions related to the highway for nine months.
Let us remind you that at the end of 2018, MANS made first drone footages of the devastation of Tara, while the data published yesterday show that the previous government had information at least a year earlier that excavations from the tunnel had been deposited directly into Tara, that its riverbed had been relocated, that gravel had been illegally extracted from it, and that wastewater had been discharged directly into the river.
Violating the Constitution of Montenegro, which guarantees every citizen timely information on the state of the environment, the previous government disregarded the Aarhus Convention, as well as a series of domestic regulations and international documents concerning the environment, especially the Tara River, which is under a special protection regime.
The line ministers of sustainable development and transport, members of Duško Marković’s government, remained consistent in withholding data and denying the real situation on the ground, even when the devastation became the subject of review in the reports of the European Commission, the European Parliament and UNESCO itself.
What is a special reason for concern is the fact that the competent State Prosecutor’s Office had most of the information, while even four years after the beginning of the devastation, there are no ready indictments against responsible persons in state institutions and the contractor.
Such actions of the State Prosecutor’s Office, with the active participation of competent institutions of the previous government, has led to the situation that the devastation of Tara caused by the construction of the highway never stopped, but continued. The announcements of the competent State Prosecutor’s Office that they will only now conduct an investigation are frivolous and show the extent to which the complete absence of responsibility can produce harmful consequences for our society.
We believe that in addition to the reported ministers and CRBC representatives, some future investigation should also include the prosecutors who kept the report regarding Tara in a drawer for months and years, enabling the continuation of the devastation.
The key question that arises after publishing the data on devastation is who will actually compensate the costs of repairing the environmental damage caused by the construction of the highway and how to stop the devastation of the Tara River, which did not stop with DPS leaving the power.
Key role in this must be played by two line ministries – the Ministry of Ecology in the field of environmental protection, and the Ministry of Capital Investments as a formal investor on behalf of the Government of Montenegro. Unfortunately, what we have seen so far by these two ministries does not leave room for optimism that the practice, established by the previous government when it comes to attitude towards the highway, will change in the foreseeable future.
It is absolutely unacceptable that the Government of Zdravko Krivokapić, which formally has a proclaimed green agenda and maximum environmental protection, as well as zero tolerance for corruption and non-transparency, has not provided answers to key questions related to the highway in nine months since its appointment.
Thus, we have not heard any serious information from the Minister of Ecology, Ratko Mitrović, about the plan for the protection of the Tara River or the intensified inspection supervision, while in the meantime, CRBC continues to treat Tara’s riverbed as if Duško Marković is still the Prime Minister.
The situation is similar with the Ministry of Capital Investments, which has chosen the “vow of silence” and publicly announced that violations of the law and possible corruption would not be discussed until the current section is completed. The number of documents on the highway that this ministry independently disclosed is zero, despite the indisputable interest of the public to find out what happened in the past five years of construction of this project.
Unfortunately, with this practice, two key ministries in Zdravko Krivokapić’s government continue to predominantly serve the interests of CRBC and its subcontractors, to the detriment of the interests of the citizens.
Disclosure of all information on everything that is important for determining liability for the devastation of Tara and possible corruption is the minimum needed to get a complete picture regarding the highway. Anything less than that is a new subservience to the interests of CRBC and all those who may have illegally benefited from this project.
MANS
