Pillar number 4 of the state cable car K7 on Bjelasica is not safe for use without adequate measures to rehabilitate the surrounding terrain.
This is written in the finding and opinion on the condition of that building, which "Vijesti" had access to, and which was drawn up by a court expert and an engineer assessor. Goran Račić.
He stated that the pillar "experienced deformations that exceed the permissible values prescribed by the regulations, in case the cable car is not in operation".
"In particular, it should be noted that the movements and deformations of the shaft of pillar no. 4 occur under conditions of constant load, that is, that there are no useful loads (dynamic loads from baskets with people), as well as exceptional loads (snow, wind, ice on the cables, earthquake...), when the stresses in the structure are not present on the pole object columns many times larger", he writes in Račić's essay.
During the past spring and summer, "Vijesti" wrote several times about the possibility that the foundation of the column was damaged by the works being carried out on private plots in the immediate vicinity. The company Ski resort Kolašin 1450, owned by the company, is building villas on that location Zoran Ćoć Bećirović, and nearby are the ski resorts of the same owner.
The foundations of the private villas in the Kolašin Mountain Center 1450 were built under the state cable car, at a distance smaller than the legally prescribed distance from the belt on which the K7 funicular worth nine million extends. According to what can be seen on the ground, the foundations are less than 12 meters away from the state lift, which is illegal according to the Ski Areas Act. According to Article 29 of the Law on Ski Resorts, "the ski center or third parties are prohibited from building or setting up objects of any kind, which are not in the function of the cable car, at a distance of up to 12 meters on both sides of the outer rope, in the case of rail lifts up to 12 meters on both sides outer rails, as well as up to 12 meters from each station building (no-construction zone)"...
In mid-June of this year, as they told "Vijesta" at the time, the Urban Planning and Construction Inspection prohibited the preparatory works for the construction of villas at the Kolašin 1450 location, because they threatened the pillar of the state cable car K7. The inspection carried out an inspection on June 10 and ordered the investor who builds villas to "provide the safety and stability of the pillar within twelve days". The urban planning and construction inspector determined that the construction works carried out on the buildings threaten the safety of the neighboring pole of the K7 cable car and ordered a measure to prohibit further construction works, and to ensure the safety and stability of the neighboring pole of the K7 cable car within twelve days. As they claimed, that company should "immediately carry out piling and protection of the pillar, according to the previously prepared main project". After that, remedial measures were started and, allegedly, completed.
From the Board of Directors and Management of the state company Ski Resorts of Montenegro (SCG), for now, they are silent about it.
The K7 cable car was opened in February 2022, and nine million euros of citizens' money were spent on the construction of that facility. It is a six-seater, 1,5 kilometers long, with a capacity of 2.600 skiers per hour, and it enables the connection of more than 40 kilometers of ski slopes of the state ski resort Kolašin 1600 and the private Kolašin 1450, in Bjelasica.
"Putting the cable car into operation would increase the impacts in all the elements of the mentioned pillar and call into question the stability of the element itself since the ground below is not adequately stabilized. It is concluded that pillar no. 4 cable cars K7 at the location of Ski Center Kolašin are not safe for use without adequate measures to rehabilitate the surrounding terrain. Also, the investor is recommended to check with the designer and the equipment supplier whether the current deformations of the foundation and column increase the second-order influences in the construction of column no. 4 that the construction of the building itself requires rehabilitation", concludes Račić.
The finding and opinion, according to unofficial information from "Vijesti", was requested from the Board of Directors of the state company Ski Resorts of Montenegro (SCG) and was made the previous month. Račić notes in the document that the study refers only to the construction of the column, and that other parts of the six-seater are not covered by it.
According to what he found on the ground, Račić explains that "in the immediate vicinity of the pillar there are accommodation facilities with accompanying roads", and roads on the upper and lower sides.
"The roads around the pillar are currently in the stage of construction of the undercarriage of the road. During the construction of those roads, the material slipped and the foundation of column No. 4 floated out. This also applies to the poured material over the foundation of the pillar, which is designed as a stabilizing load... By visual inspection, it can be established that the pillar no. 4 experienced visible deformations in terms of verticality in the x direction and that it is not in line with the other pillars. "This is probably the result of the foundation sliding and rotating during the excavation of the access road from the lower side," states the expert.
He also concluded that "the remedial measures undertaken did not yield results in terms of stabilizing the movement of the mentioned pillar, in the sense that the lower parts of the walls cracked in horizontal and diagonal directions with visible cracks 1,5-3,5 cm wide". The upper parts of the walls and the plateau, Račić noted, moved from the foundation of the column by about nine centimeters, which indicates that the movement is not finished.
The CEDIS teams completed the work on the transmission line located on a private plot in the village of Mušovića Rijeka, which caught fire ten days ago. In addition to previously connected broken cables on a private plot, the works were completely repaired and regular electricity supply was provided to the state and private ski resort in Kolašin, the facilities of the Radio Broadcasting Center and the Army at Zekova Glava and the Jezerine tunnel.
The silence of those responsible in the Ski Resorts of Montenegro
"Vijesti" had an insight into the finding and opinion on the condition of pillar number 4 of the state cable car on Friday. Instead of answering the numerous questions asked during the telephone conversation, the journalist from the state company was told that the session of the Board of Directors of SCG is being held on Monday, and that the topic will be the condition of pillar number 4, as well as that she will make a statement afterwards, "because she will have more information". However, on Monday, after the Board session ended, the president of that governing body, Miličko Bulatović, said that "the unanimous decision of the members was not to make statements to the media on the subject of the cable car and the pillar".
After that, "Vijesti" sent questions to the management of SCG, which were not answered until 15 pm yesterday. Among the questions was what they intend to do after receiving the Findings and opinion of the expert in the construction profession, and why a similar report was not requested earlier, but before the very beginning of the winter tourist season, considering that, at the end of May, from the Ski Center Kolašin 1600 reported possible damage on the ground around the pillar. "Vijesti" also asked if the opinion of the company that installed the cable car was sought, as well as the way in which, considering Račić's conclusions, the cable car will be put into operation, and about the planned remedial measures. Given that it is planned to sell unique ski passes during the upcoming winter tourist season, which allow skiers to use the infrastructure of both the private and state ski center together, and that the K7 cable car makes this possible, the SCG management was also asked whether are those ski passes already on sale?
According to unofficial information from "Vijesti", in order to verify the findings of the court expert, the Board decided to contact the manufacturer of the cable car, the Doppelmeyr company, and that they also wrote to the Ministry of Tourism.
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