Opponents of the installation of the underwater energy cable Peskar - Tivat, on both sides of the Adriatic, have united: the first meeting was held at which information was exchanged that the citizens of Montenegro could not get from their country until now, regarding environmental protection.
A few months ago, the "Don't touch our future" committee was formed in Pescara, which includes representatives of the opposition and citizens from that city, as well as members of the recently formed "Future and Freedom" party, which broke away from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party.
The representative of Lastva Grbaljska was a student of psychology in Rome and authorized representative of the local community, Ivana Mihović.
Italians knew about the price increase a month ago
According to Ivana's father, the president of the local community of Lastva Grbaljska, Labud Mihović, there is a certain joint action of the opponents of the project in Italy and Montenegro.
The leader of the movement "Don't touch our future" and the most prominent opponent of Terna's energy cable, local politician from Pescara Lorenzo Valoreja asked for daily contact with the aim of joint action, and he announced his arrival in Montenegro and the holding of a press conference.
As Mihović told the "News", the announced increase in the price of electricity in Montenegro and Italy is a direct consequence of the request of the Italian company A2A to finance Terna's project in this way.
"A month ago, Valoreja told us on the phone that the first "benefit" from that action would be a 90 percent increase in the price of electricity. Our officials don't know how to explain it, but you've heard their statements in the media these days. They present some data, but he doesn't know They want to finance the whole project here from that price increase in Italy - said Mihović.
The cable goes out to Blato
Valoreja told "Vijesta" that he pointed out to his colleagues from Montenegro the unfairness of A2A's request to increase electricity prices in Montenegro, and that "little is known about the potential harmful effects of the cable" in Montenegro.
He points out that scientific research on the impact of power cables, as predicted by Terna, is contradictory, but that there is an established rule that, when there is a well-founded suspicion that a project is harmful to health, ethical principles dictate that such a project be abandoned until science confirms it. or challenge doubts.
Mihović said that it is certain that the high-voltage cable will emerge from the sea at the location between Jaz and Trsteno beaches.
An Italian company built a much smaller substation in a small village near Rome, and that village received benefits as compensation that their residents would not pay for electricity for 50 years.
"The construction of a transformer station of 400.000 square meters is planned in Blato. The cable will go from Trsteno beach to the transformer station next to the main road, so as not to buy up the land," said Mihović.
"Next to the warehouse, the cable turns and goes right to the 100.000-square-meter Mrčevo Polje location, which belongs to the former agricultural estate "Montenpranzo Bokaprodukt" and to the Blato location, which means in the middle of our village. According to the information of our neighbors who live there, the Italians bought another 60.000 square meters next to Blato and said that they will build barracks there to house the workers," Mihović said.
50 years of free electricity
He said that they received information that an Italian company built a much smaller substation in a small village near Rome, and that village received benefits as compensation that their residents would not pay for electricity for 50 years.
"I wonder why they would exempt that village next to Rome from paying for electricity for 50 years, when they say it is not harmful," says Mihović, emphasizing that Valoreja told them that one of the trump cards on the side of the project's opponents is the UNESCO protection of the Kotor municipality.
We wrote another letter to Maja Ćatović with a request to receive us. Since then, she has not contacted us, nor answered us, nor received us," Mihović said
According to Mihović, the most important issue is the issue of ecology and tourism, because as the Italians told them, "swimming and fishing and tying tourist boats will be prohibited in the zone where the cable enters the sea."
"The least we can ask is that they exempt us from paying for electricity for 50 years. In cooperation with experts from Europe, we will seek adequate environmental protection of our village and the area of the substation, because according to our knowledge, this project is in the final stage, as evidenced by the publication of the decision on the location of cable laying in the Official Gazette of Montenegro. Look where substations were built thirty years ago, in uninhabited areas and not in the center of the settlement," said Mihović.
Valoreja also said that he sees similarities between Montenegro and Pescara, which is also a region whose natural resources, local craftsmanship and tourism are its main assets, and which could be permanently damaged by projects such as energy cables and huge substations.
Ćatović ignores them
"The idea of turning a naturally rich region into an energy hub may not be so bad in itself, if it could be proven that it is in the common interest, but in democratic countries such decisions should be publicly discussed and discussed with the citizens who the territories of the living, instead of being brought quickly and secretly, thus causing legitimate doubts - emphasized Valoreja.
In the local community of Lastva Grbaljska, they contacted the president of the municipality of Kotor, Marija Ćatović, a couple of times about information related to the installation of cables and facilities in this part of Grbalj, but according to Mihović, she replied with a letter that "she is sorry because of the suspicions of the locals that she does not want to be with them to share relevant information".
"It is true that the representatives of the Municipality of Kotor were present at all the meetings in Podgorica and the agreements on changing the location of Oblatno to the area between Trsteni and Jaz", says Mihović, adding that the Council of Local Communities of Grblja then decided that the local community of Lastva should lead the action against the project democratic means.
"We wrote another letter to Maja Ćatović with a request to receive us. Since then, she has not contacted us, nor has she answered us, nor has she received us," said Mihović.
Staying longer than four hours is not recommended
Valoreja points out that a large number of people from Peskara are faced with the problems of land expropriation in the areas where the cable should pass.
"Some of my friends had previously obtained building permits suspended because someone decided that a cable should go through there," Valoreja said.
He pointed out that construction will be prohibited in the 150-meter route around the place where the overhead part of the cable leading to the substation will pass.
When all the areas around which it will not be possible to build are added, there will be a huge unusable area around Peskara, which, according to him, could be used more wisely. Valoreja believes that the potential harmful impact of the power cable can be seen from the recommendations of Terna itself, that in the areas where the cable is transmitted by air "it is not recommended to stay in the immediate vicinity of the cable for longer than four hours".
This, according to Valoreja, becomes problematic especially if such cables pass near public areas or residential buildings.
The opposition also wants to cooperate
Valoreja told "Vijesta" that he recently received a call from the national administration of the Future and Freedom movement, of which he is a member at the local level in Pescara, with a proposal to organize a meeting with the Montenegrin opposition to discuss the cable.
The Future and Freedom Party is led by Gianfranco Fini, currently Berlusconi's most prominent opponent.
Valoreja, he claims, received this call after the administration of Budućnosti i sloboda received news about the announcement of the Montenegrin Movement for Change that it would submit a lawsuit to the Montenegrin state prosecutor against Berlusconi and representatives of the Montenegrin and Italian governments who were involved in the energy deals between Italy and Montenegro.
He told "Vijesti" that the visit to the Montenegrin opposition is a completely new idea that came up a few days ago, and that they have not yet established contact with the politicians of the Montenegrin opposition, although it is only a matter of time when they will do so.
He said that it is still not known exactly when or in what composition that delegation would visit Montenegro, but that he would almost certainly be a member of that delegation, considering that he is the leader of the movement against the cable in Pescara.
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