At least 200 houses belonging to the citizens of Bar could be demolished if the idea to build a new freight railway in that municipality, which is now in the Draft Amendments to the Spatial Plan that recently underwent a public debate, is implemented.
Therefore, it was submitted yesterday to the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property, which is headed by the Minister Slaven Radunović, a petition with almost 4.000 signatures initiated by citizens whose homes are located on the railway route that is drawn in this planning document. They are asking that this section be removed from the Draft Amendments to the PUP.
This planning document specifies that the new freight railway would start from the old overpass in Bar, in Popovići, and briefly follow the existing Bar - Podgorica railway, but then branch off and go towards substation 110, then in the central part through the settlements of Bjeliše, part of Ahmetov brijeg and Podsustaš and continue towards the MZ Bar 5, towards the settlement of Zupci.
This idea currently does not have the support of the Ministry of Transport, which announced to "Vijesti" a negative opinion on this proposal, while the Ministry of Spatial Planning states that the railway is also included in the valid Urban Development Plan for the municipality of Bar.
"The solution that involves relocating the railway along the corridor through the Željeznica River valley, and then through the tunnel under Sutorman towards Podgorica, is envisaged in the Draft Amendments to the Bar Urban Development Plan, however, we emphasize that it has existed for a long time, and that it is envisaged in the valid Urban Development Plan of the Municipality adopted by the Bar Municipal Assembly, at the session held on December 31, 2018," they said in this department.
"Vijesti" is awaiting answers from the Municipality of Bar, which is headed by the president Dušan Raičević to questions regarding this railway - whether they have objected to this solution and whether the citizens whose houses are scheduled for demolition have the support of the local government.
The petition was signed by 4.000 citizens.
"A petition with almost 4.000 signatures against the adoption of the part of the Draft Amendments to the Urban Development Plan of the Municipality of Bar, which relates to the relocation of the railway and passing over the houses of several local communities, has been submitted to the relevant ministry," the petition initiators told "Vijesti".
They specified that the number of signatures they collected was 3.959, but that new ones were arriving every day and interested citizens were coming forward to contribute. They collected the signatures in two days, and sent them to the address of the relevant ministry by e-mail and directly submitted them to the registry office.
A tunnel is planned to be built in Zupci, which, according to documentation and interpretation, would exit in Crmnica. Residents of the settlement where the houses would be demolished and other residents of Bar believe that this solution is unacceptable, and that local communities would be divided into two parts, and the railway itself would damage the environment and devastate the area.
Along the way, at least 200 houses of citizens living in the settlements through which the railway is planned would be demolished. According to locals, this is Slavko Vučićević, the conclusion of two citizens' assemblies held by the residents of these local communities.
"If we do not receive the response that we rightly expect and which is the only one we can get, we will take the next steps. We will contact the Ombudsman, file complaints, and we are also ready for the final solution - involving the judicial authorities. After submitting the petition, we will continue to collect signatures, so that this type of pressure from our side is as great as possible," said Vučićević.
Focused on reconstruction of existing railway
Citizen representatives were not received at the Ministry of Spatial Planning yesterday, but they did meet with the Minister of Transport. Majom Vukićević, who, as they said, provided them with support and informed them that the department she leads would issue a negative opinion on the draft amendments to the Regional Development Plan and the proposals therein regarding railway infrastructure and traffic.
Vukićević confirmed this to "Vijesti" and said that she supports this citizens' initiative. As she stated, the Ministry of Transport was not thinking about relocating the railway, but rather reconstructing the existing one.
"We have not considered relocating now and we think that this would generate huge costs, which we do not have the conditions for now. Money has been provided for the reconstruction of the railway from Bar to Golubovaci through a grant and a loan. We are trying to bring this project to an end so that implementation can begin as soon as possible, so it is not appropriate to consider changing the route now," said the Minister of Transport.
The Ministry of Spatial Planning pointed out that the drafter of the Amendments to the Bar Municipality's Urban Development Plan, which are in the drafting procedure, did not foresee anything new, but retained the existing solution planned in the current Urban Development Plan, and that the idea of relocating the railway route also appears in earlier studies.
The idea is in documents from 2009.
"So it is mentioned in the Traffic Study of the Municipality of Bar from 2009, which was carried out by the Yugoslav Institute for Urban Planning and Housing Belgrade, and which preceded the adoption of the 2018 Urban Planning Plan. The planning document proposes that the planned railway corridor be retained, in order to protect it from illegal construction for the post-planning period, and that until then traffic will be carried out using the existing infrastructure," the Ministry of Spatial Planning stated.
They emphasized that during the process of drafting amendments to this planning document, and before determining the draft and announcing the public hearing, it was submitted for opinion to all competent authorities, the Municipality of Bar and the Revision Council, and that until the announcement of the public hearing, there were no objections to the planned solution for relocating the railway.
"We have already received approval from the Railway Administration for the Draft Plan - emphasizing that these changes to the plan include all the important characteristics of the existing railway, as well as the future railway corridor that would run along the Željeznica River valley, through the tunnel under Sutorman, and further towards Podgorica," the Ministry pointed out.
The Ministry will provide responses to all comments.
The Ministry of Spatial Planning pointed out that, in accordance with the law, after the announcement of the public hearing, a notification of the public hearing was sent to the competent authorities and the Municipality of Bar, and upon its completion, the processor will consider all comments, proposals and suggestions submitted during the public hearing period.
"Both those submitted by the competent institutions and the Municipality of Bar, and those submitted by interested users of the space, will be answered within the Report on the Public Discussion on the Draft Amendments to the Urban Planning of the Municipality of Bar and the Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment, which will be published on the official website of the Ministry after receiving the opinion of the Review Council. Based on the Report on the Public Discussion, the processor will prepare a Proposal for a Planning Document," the Ministry of Spatial Planning said.
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