CIN-CG: MERS denies what we never claimed; KAP black and without Bijela

Their text does not claim that the Environmental Impact Assessment Study mentions waste from BIJELA, so they do not understand why MERS is denying something they did not even claim, the Center for Investigative Reporting of Montenegro (CIN-CG) announced.

CIN-CG responded to the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Northern Development's reaction to their article.

We transmit the answer in its entirety:

The main thesis of the denial of the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Northern Development (MERS), which has been repeated several times in response to the article by the Center for Investigative Reporting of Montenegro (CIN-CG) "Does the poison remain in KAP?", is the alleged information that hazardous waste from the former Shipyard in Bijela will be stored in the area of ​​the Podgorica Aluminum Plant (KAP). The response states that this information "is not accurate and does not reflect the valid planning and project documentation."

However, the CIN-CG text does not claim this anywhere, but only indicates that the storage of hazardous waste from Bijela at KAP is mentioned in the World Bank document: "Project Information Document", (P510187), paragraph 27, dated April 29, 2025. Incidentally, MERS confirms this in its response: "The possibility of disposing of contaminated material from the Bijela Shipyard at a location in the KAP zone existed in earlier planning phases, but this option was subsequently excluded from the valid planning documentation."

Our text does not claim that the Environmental Impact Assessment Study mentions waste from BIJELA, so we do not understand why MERS is denying something that we did not even claim.

MERS further states that the first World Bank loan was not used solely due to the unresolved property and legal status of the site. This claim, however, is not in line with the official World Bank document: "Disclosable Restructuring Paper", for the project P122139 (RES52093), which related to the reconstruction of hazardous waste at KAP. In addition to property and legal issues, this document also lists several other factors that led the Government of Montenegro to not use the previous loan. Thus, in addition to the unresolved bankruptcy procedure and the ownership status of the site, it lists insufficient coordination of institutions; personnel problems in project management; the fact that the technical documentation was not completed.

This selective interpretation by the Ministry that the previous loan was not used only due to property law issues is particularly problematic in the context of the current hazardous waste remediation project at KAP. The objections of the Capital City and the Environmental Protection Agency to the Study have not yet been resolved. At the time we were writing the text, the technical documentation had not even been completed.

Particularly worrying is the attempt to discredit our work through MERS' claim that CIN-CG journalists did not submit questions related to the costs of preparing the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Study. A question regarding the costs of the Study was sent to the official MERS email address on May 20, 2026. After nine days, we received an answer to some of the other questions asked, but not to how much the Study was paid for.

However, it is encouraging to hear from MERS that an updated Environmental and Social Impact Assessment will be published next week, and that the study will be supplemented with new analyses, as well as comments received during the public consultation.