For several months now, the Montenegrin media, as well as the wider professional public, have been discussing how it was possible for the existing natural sandy beach in front of the future hotel complex in Baošići to be completely covered with stone and soil from the excavation for that grandiose complex. It seems that the investor wanted to meet all the strict requirements for fulfilling the conditions for acquiring a high-ranking new hotel. Namely, on the relatively cramped location of the future hotel complex, this required that all garages, laundries, service facilities, etc. be located underground. Hence the huge amounts of soil and stone after the excavation of the foundations of the new hotel complex.
It was logical that the investor would organize the transportation and deposit of this large amount of stone and soil to some unattractive and remote location on land. However, since such an undertaking would require significant costs, the investor resorted to another solution. So, with the wholehearted help of some “advisors” and “designers”, the “genius” idea was reached to dump the entire amount of stone and soil from the excavation for the hotels into the sea. In order to obtain all the necessary permits for such an undertaking, a project name had to be found that would not show that it was a gross violation of the natural characteristics of the existing coastal strip in the wider vicinity of the future hotel complex. Thus, a very strange project name was arrived at: “Development of a partially developed bathing area”. However, the project documentation and the signboard placed on the construction site show that the project name is completely inadequate.
It can be seen that the natural state and the planned appearance of the coast have nothing in common. Namely, a natural sandy beach, of relatively modest dimensions, is called a partially developed bathing area. And what is a developed bathing area then? It is a huge plateau, formed of stone and soil from excavations for hotels. So, for the investor, both the natural beach and probably the concrete plateau represent bathing areas, only the beach is partially developed, and the concrete plateau is fully developed. It is interesting that all the competent state institutions have also given their consent for the implementation of this project, probably misled by the name of the project that the partially developed bathing area will become a fully developed bathing area.
INCREDIBLE EPA REACTION
Of course, problems arise immediately after the work begins. Locals, representatives of non-governmental organizations, and even state institutions themselves understand that behind the innocuous name "Development of a partially developed bathing area" lies a huge backfilling of stones and earth from excavations for future hotels. Numerous photographs show that the backfilled earth has formed large patches in the wider area of the project.
Despite all the demands to stop the works, the investor continued with the works, claiming that he had all the necessary permits from the competent institutions. It is interesting that the competent institutions did not make much of a statement, or they blamed each other for the omission, or from the current to the previous government of Montenegro. It is simply incredible that the Agency for the Protection of Nature of Montenegro (EPA) assessed that for the enormous dumping of stones and soil into the sea it was not necessary to prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment Study. Even if they did not have time to look at the project documentation, it was already clear at the very beginning of the works that the dumping of soil and stones was extremely harmful to the environment in the wider area of the project. Only the Administration for the Protection of Cultural Property (UZKD) ordered the company “Carine” to return the filled beach in Baošići to its original state, because this section of the coast forms an integral part of the protected environment of the Natural and Cultural-Historical Area of Kotor, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Despite the ban and the corresponding court ruling, the construction work on the plateau has practically been completed. All that remains is to concrete the plateau, most likely after the end of the season, and for it to finally become a so-called arranged bathing area. This arranged bathing area has an area of about 12.500 m2.
BASIC OBJECTIONS
The project for the development of a partially developed bathing area represents only an architectural vision of the appearance of the coast after the construction of the plateau. The available documentation does not contain any traces of any analysis of changes in navigation conditions, hydrodynamic conditions (movement of sea currents, effects of waves on the plateau and the wider environment, impact on the environment, as well as a number of key data on how the future plateau will be used).
The project does not renovate anything, but rather completely fills the existing natural beach with stone and soil from the excavation for the future hotel complex.
The elevation of the filled plateau will probably be between 1 and 1,5 meters above the level of the calm sea. This means that the arranged bathing area will only be able to be used by experienced swimmers, who can use vertical stairs to enter the sea directly. For children, non-swimmers and the elderly, the arranged bathing area will only be a “sunbathing area”. Interestingly, a sign posted on the construction site shows a picture that a beach will be formed at the end of the plateau for gradual entry into the sea. However, since the depth at the end of the plateau is about nine meters, it is clear that the plateau had to end with a vertical wall, which is noticeable after the filling is completed.
The huge filled plateau completely changes the coastline in the area of the future hotel complex, and even requires a change in navigation conditions along the wider area of that section. The lighthouse at the corner of the former pier, which is completely filled in, was about 30 meters away from the promenade. The distance from the end of the filled plateau to the promenade is about 80 meters, which means that the filling has entered the sea as much as 50 meters from the former lighthouse. Therefore, the Navigation Safety Inspection of the Port Authority of Kotor officially informed the Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) of Montenegro that it is necessary to correct the maritime charts of the Bay of Kotor.
The plateau will represent an obstacle to the movement of sea currents, gravitational or wave-induced. This can cause instability and erosion of adjacent beaches. In the summer period, accumulations of floating seaweed and dirt may occur on the sides of the plateau.
The filled plateau will completely change the picture of waves in its surroundings, especially in the winter period when waves of greater heights are affected. Before the construction of the plateau, waves were cushioned on the beaches along the coast. After the construction of the plateau with vertical walls, wave reflection and superposition of their heights will occur. This may cause local erosion of adjacent sections of the coast. The most endangered is the relatively small, but fully developed beach to the left (west) of the constructed plateau.
The term arranged beach can only be used for domestic use. Any area along the seashore that can be leased is called a beach in Montenegro. So, over a hundred natural sandy and pebble beaches in Montenegro are treated the same as dozens of concrete plateaus built mainly in the Herceg Novi Bay. How will the investor, for the predominantly foreign guests of the future exclusive hotel complex, define a concrete plateau in their advertising brochures? They cannot be called a beach, because foreign tourists know very well what a beach is (beach, plage, spiaggia, playa, etc.), but the mention of concrete probably makes them shudder. Well, they spend the whole year in concrete buildings, concrete walkways, concrete parking lots, etc. They will not be particularly thrilled by the fact that children, non-swimmers and the elderly will not be able to use this “arranged” beach because they cannot enter the sea using vertical stairs.
Finally, the question arises whether a solution can be found to completely or at least partially reduce the harmful effects of dumping rocks and soil over the natural beach in Baošići. Here are a few possible solutions:
RESTORING TO THE ORIGINAL STATE IS PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE
The request of the Cultural Heritage Protection Administration to restore the beach to its original state is practically impossible to fulfill. First, there are huge quantities of stone and soil that have been dumped into the sea. The investor and designers do not state the quantities of the dumped material, but it can be roughly estimated that it is over 100.000 cubic meters. The dumping process was a simple undertaking that did not require much time. Trucks would come to the edge of the sea and deliver the stone and soil, and then excavators would level the dumped plateau. The process of removing the dumped plateau would be significantly more complicated and would require significantly more time. Since the sea depth at the end of the plateau is about 9 meters, it would be necessary to hire floating machinery to dredge the dumped material. The work would probably take a long time because floating machinery cannot be used during storms, accompanied by the appearance of large waves. Two more problems should be mentioned here. During the entire process of dredging the stone and soil from the embankment, there would be a great deal of pollution of the sea and the seabed, as the sea water would become cloudy, and the smallest particles would settle on the seabed in the wider vicinity of the embankment. The investor was faced with another problem even before the start of the works. Namely, where would the dredged material, the volume of which is over 100.000 m3, be deposited. Finally, even if the embankment were completely removed, the original state of the coastal belt no longer exists because the sand and gravel of the former beach are mixed with stone and soil. Therefore, a new beach would have to be formed from sand and gravel brought from the nearest natural watercourse.
REDUCTION OF THE AREA OF THE FILLED PLATEAU
The investor, or rather the designers, at one point proposed to reduce the area of the filled plateau, or rather to shorten its length. The Maritime Safety Administration of Montenegro should first respond to this question as to whether it accepts this idea at all and, if so, how much the length of the filled plateau should be shortened. By developing an appropriate project, a solution could even be found to enable gradual entry into the sea on one part of the shortened plateau. Of course, the dredging work would be significantly less than the solution for restoring it to its original state.
RETAINING THE FILLED PLATEAU WITH RESTRICTIONS AND ADDITIONAL WORKS
It is not excluded that after the completion of the works on the hotel complex, the request to remove the embankment plateau, or to return the beach to its original state, will be abandoned. The huge funds invested in the hotel complex would be a decisive factor in keeping the embankment plateau. In order for the embankment plateau to be kept, as part of the new appearance of the coast in Baošići, it would be necessary to meet some very strict requirements. First of all, the requirements regarding its appearance. The future plateau should at least resemble the old piers, mandrače and mula in its appearance. All of them were made exclusively of stone in the past. Therefore, the embankment plateau must be completely covered with stone. Not a single square meter of the plateau may be made of concrete. Also, all buildings on the plateau must be made of either stone or wood. A much bigger problem is that the embankment plateau deviates significantly from the existing coastline. This could be partially solved by drastically increasing the beach and coastal belt to the right and east of the embankment plateau. The beach would be formed by filling in gravel and sand dredged from one of the Montenegrin waterways. Of course, such an undertaking would require a proper project. This new beach could be used by everyone, including guests of the hotel complex.
WASTEWATER PROBLEM
Finally, we should mention a problem that is not related to the filled plateau at all. On the site of the current huge hotel complex, there used to be a children's resort with about 300 beds. Around 2.000 guests of the future complex with nearly 800 units and a support staff of about 500 people could, at peak load (morning and evening), drastically burden the existing sewage collector that runs along the coast. The designers should once again carefully check whether the existing collector can accept the huge amounts of wastewater from the future hotel complex. The discharge of sewage into the sea would be disastrous not only for the hotel complex but also for the entire coastal belt of Baošić.
The author is a construction andengineer
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