The company "Monteput" has once again received approval for the Environmental Impact Assessment Study for the construction of the Smokovac-Tološi highway section, i.e. for the future ten-kilometer route that will serve as a bypass of Podgorica. This permit is part of the documentation required for obtaining a construction permit, and is also important because the Government expects the project to be financed with favorable European loans.
"Vijesti" has learned that the NGO "Opstanak Rogami", made up of residents of the same name in Podgorica, will appeal this decision of the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as the previous one. They have been disputing this project for a long time, as it envisages the demolition of several houses, the displacement of the population, and the discharge of wastewater into wells in their village.
"Monteput" initially submitted the Elaboration for assessment in October last year, while the Agency gave the green light to the document in mid-March. The NGO "Opstanak Rogami" appealed this decision, after which the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Northern Development annulled the decision in mid-May this year and returned the procedure for a new decision.
General Manager of “Monteputa” Milan Ljljanic In an interview with "Vijesti" at the beginning of the year, he said that due to the objections of the locals, but also because the project is being carried out according to EBRD rules, he will conduct an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) study. He said that he will take into account all aspects and objections, with the aim of resolving them during the implementation of the project.
The construction of the Smokovac-Tološi highway section will cost around 270 million euros and will involve the construction of five bridges and a tunnel. The route is part of the Bar-Boljare highway, from the existing interchange at Smokovac to the future one in Tološi (near the Komanski bridge), where it will connect to the main road Podgorica - Nikšić. As announced at the end of April, of the total amount, 100 million euros will be provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), 100 million by the European Investment Bank, and 70 million euros by the state.
Locals are looking for studies
"Vijesti" previously visited the residents of Rogami, the settlements of Ras and Smokovac, i.e. the areas around the existing section of the Bar-Boljare highway and the one that the future Smokovac-Tološi highway will pass through. Member of the NGO "Opstanak Rogami" Milodarka Novosel She explained that the planned interchange in the area of Smokovac and the village of Ras is illegal because there is no strategic environmental impact assessment for it, while the already built highway has muddied the water in their wells from which they drink and irrigate their properties.
"The planned widening of the interchange for the new section is destroying this entire area, all these houses would have to be demolished for it. We have already said this publicly, it concerns 35 houses. Because of the interchange project, all our property is under the registration of the burden of expropriation. This entire section, the forests and everything that is registered in the succession certificate of these families. Our family has 250 hectares of forest, some have twice as much as we do and they have the registration of the burden, which means that we cannot dispose of the property. We cannot build anything and we have about 6.000 vine roots, a registered company, so we cannot even engage in the wine business and suffer damage...", she stated.
Novosel also indicated that they are requesting analyses because it is planned that traffic from northern Montenegro and surrounding countries will pass through this area, but that there is no research into whether the area can withstand this. She added that the Government has stopped military exercises in Sinjajevina and the valorization of the lead and zinc mines in Mojkovac, and that they have contacted them so that the same can happen in their case.
She explained that the construction of the first section of the highway cut their family plot in half, taking up about 12.000 square meters of land, cutting off their vineyard from their house and forcing them to take a side road to get there by car. She said that four of their water lines were cut off, 2.000 vine roots were destroyed, and that they are now without a house and wine cellar.
"There is no one who can expel us. We are not Indians, we are not thieves, we are responsible, honorable citizens, whose country this is, for which people died, which was created and which was left to us to leave to our descendants. And we are not easy to expel, nor will we accept it. There are possibilities, such as drilling a tunnel under Doljani for the section to Božaj, there are Rogamska brda and Vežešnik, there are options if the state were responsible - it would do that...", she stated.
An area rich in underground sources of drinking water
In this place without a house, a well and 200.000 square meters of land, he could stay and Branko Rajkovic, who emphasized that the Smokovac area is full of underground sources of drinking water, and that all future work should be undertaken only after detailed research. Therefore, they propose to catalyze the sources and declare the entire area from Smokovac to the mouth of the Morača River a protected zone of public interest due to the exceptional potential of the waters, some of which are also sinking.
They also claim that Dr. Vasilije Radulović recommended in the study that the highway not be built at this location, and that the water be treated before being discharged into separators under the future section. According to the study, 20 percent of the water is planned to be purified.
The Smokovac-Tološi highway section also passes by Vranićke njive, and it is planned that this small town will be completely covered by higher-order roads due to the addition of the Velje brdo interchange, while some of the mostly illegally built houses on the slope of Mali brdo and the area between Mali and Velje brdo will be endangered. Only after the announcement of the construction of a large settlement on Velje brdo, a year and a half ago, was the idea of adding a new interchange to connect with that settlement included in the Spatial Plan.
Still no ESIA study
A resident of Vranić Fields Đuro Vučinić, told "Vijesti" that an alternative must be found for this section, among some that have been previously proposed. He stressed that it is irresponsible to build two roundabouts for the same purpose at this location, 500 meters apart, and that an 18-meter-diameter roundabout is planned near their yard.
"The ESIA study has not been done, and that standard implies that the best options assess the impact on the environment and society. EU funds will not provide money if the ESIA is not implemented, and that is our last line of defense, since we have established contact and received a promise that we will not receive money if the standards are skipped. Options that do not cause problems were not considered, although they exist and were considered, and no one explained to us the reasons for not adopting them. We are currently investigating whether there is corruption, because we have hired a lawyer. It is primitive to say "it is cheaper", because the most expensive thing is when families are evicted from the properties left by their ancestors, their houses are demolished...", he emphasized.
Councilor of the Movement for Podgorica (PzPG) Dragutin Vučinić told "Vijesti" that the Study does not follow the recommendations of the Spatial Plan of Montenegro (PPCG) or the traffic infrastructure of the Spatial and Urban Plan (PUP) of Podgorica, and that the construction would also endanger the archaeological site of Duklja.
At the end of March, Monteput announced that the Smokovac-Tološi highway route does not threaten Duklja and that the project is in line with the planning documentation. The Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage told Vijesti in mid-April that this route is located more than 500 meters from the borders of the Duklja cultural property, but that they are in the process of issuing conditions for its design.
Negative impact on wastewater disposal
The Environmental Impact Assessment Study for the Smokovac-Tološi section highlights that under the corridor from the "Smokovac" interchange to the Širalija bridge, there are houses in the Rogami settlement, which is why it is planned to direct riparian waters (water from the hillsides) towards the Morača and Širalija rivers.
It is stated that the degree of impact of the highway will be high as it may cause significant risks to the health and safety of the community.
"None of the settlements, except for Tološ, is equipped with a sewage network for wastewater drainage, so no negative impacts on wastewater drainage are expected during the highway exploitation phase. The drainage is divided into 13 units that, after purification, are discharged into the surrounding terrain. This arrangement of subsections is conditioned by the longitudinal slopes of the roadway and buildings on the route, and especially by the position of residential buildings below almost the entire section," the document states, explaining that slightly more than 20 percent of the total amount of water will be purified, while the rest will be passed through bypass water.
The study was done by the company "Via Project", which in February last year, together with "CDS Project" and "Geotina MNE", received a job worth 791.582 euros to develop a preliminary design for this section of the highway.
Previous Elaborate failed because locals were not allowed to participate
In mid-May, the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Northern Development annulled the approval given by the Environmental Protection Agency to the Impact Assessment Study for the Smokovac-Tološi section.
The Department of Ecology determined that the residents of Rogama requested participation in the decision-making process on granting approval for the Study, that they submitted this request through a lawyer in early March, but that the Agency, instead of the residents, gave the lawyer consent to participate in a letter, thus violating the Law on Administrative Procedure.
"Primarily because it did not decide on the request by an administrative act, a decision, whereby it gave the status of a party in the administrative procedure to a lawyer. This body found that the first-instance body established the Commission for the Evaluation of the Study by means of a decision and at the same time determined the amount of compensation for its work, while failing to obtain the opinion of the Ministry of Finance, which it was obliged to do," the decision states.
They add that the Agency determined the amount of these fees based on the maximum number of days from the rulebook, although this is legally done based on the volume, complexity and duration of work. Therefore, they believe that the procedure was not carried out properly and are requesting a repeat of the procedure, in order to eliminate irregularities and reach a lawful solution.
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