The state plans to build a regional landfill for the needs of 11 northern municipalities in Bjelasica, at a location that a team of foreign experts declared four years ago as the least suitable, and the Municipality of Bijelo Polje once took this position, and changed its mind last year. The European Investment Bank also gave up financing the construction of the Čelinska kosa landfill a few years ago, due to disagreements with the location...
The public discussion on the draft of amendments and additions to the local study of the location of the regional sanitary landfill of solid waste, Čelinska kosa, Bijelo Polje municipality, and the discussion on the draft of the report on the strategic assessment of environmental impact are underway.
The same location was considered in 2009, which was followed by negative evaluations for its choice, and the initiative for making amendments, which is now under discussion, was submitted at the end of last year by the Municipality of Bjelopolje. The Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism (MORT), headed by Pavle Radulović, prepared a draft document in August at the request of the Government.
The location "Čelinska kosa", as stated in the Draft, is located in the southwestern part of the municipality of Bijelo Polje, in the cadastral municipality of Majstorovina, on the very border with the municipality of Mojkovac. It is located about a kilometer south of the village of Lisičine and the same amount southwest of the village of Gornja Rakita.
Locals deny that it is Čelinska kosa and say that the construction of a landfill is planned in the Katun settlement of Đurđevica. They believe that by naming the landfill Čelinska kosa, the public wants to be misled about the real location.
The area of the landfill and the nearby plant for processing animal waste by-products, as planned, would be about 23 hectares.
Trash within reach of the National Park and the Emerald Network
Four years ago, a team of foreign experts made a Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment of the State Waste Management Plan, which is still available on the Internet, among other things, on the website of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In that document, it is expressly stated that, in addition to the then considered Vasov do location in Berane, the two proposed locations for the construction of a sanitary landfill in Bijelo Polje, Čelinska kosa 1 and 2, "represent a serious risk to the environment". Čelinska kosa 2 was not even considered later, and foreign experts, among other things, state that it is located within the area of the ecological network.
And Čelinska kosa 1, for which the discussion is ongoing, is located near the area of the ecological network.
"The location is located at a distance of about 500 m southeast of the Emerald area of the ecological network (Lima Valley), at a distance of about 2 km north of the NP Biogradska gora area and at a distance of about 1,5 km from the area of international protection (UNESCO Durmitor - Tara canyon)", it is stated in the document prepared by a team of foreign experts.
The proposed location is located on an occasional watercourse and this is clearly visible on the plan where the boundaries of the future landfill are drawn.
Ski centers are springing up around
Experts from abroad also wrote that the location offers views from the mountain tops and that "because of the visual values of the area and the natural-cultural context, it represents a potentially strong negative impact".
A few days ago, Prime Minister Duško Marković visited the construction site of the Cmiljač Ski Center near Bijelo Polje. At the time, he said that the future ski resort, whose value is around 23 million euros, and the complex of tourist centers on Bjelasica will be "a new flywheel for the Montenegrin economy" and will bring new jobs and opportunities for young people. The construction of the Žarski ski center in the Mojkovac part of Bjelasica is also planned, and the government says that this project, worth almost 30 million euros, will "undoubtedly contribute to the creation of new jobs and give an impetus to the local economy".
The residents of Ravna Rijeka, and the settlements that gravitate around the planned Čelinska Kosa landfill, do not share that opinion.
"They want a landfill between two ski resorts - Cmiljača and Žarski katun on Bjelasica. How is it in the government's interest to develop tourism and build a landfill", asked the participants of the recent public discussion.
How to protect the already polluted Lim
Both in the findings of foreign experts from five years ago, as well as in the current draft report on the strategic environmental impact assessment, which is under public discussion, it is stated that the limitations for a specific location are the one in question in the Lima catchment area. Although the water quality of the Lim River is rated as good in terms of many parameters, "the micro-bacteriological condition of this river can be characterized as 'bad' or 'very bad' due to the increased amount of faecal and total coliform concentration, which was found downstream of Beran and Bijelo Polje".
The considered location Čelinska kosa is located on inaccessible terrain. In addition, as stated in the draft amendments to the LSL, which is under public discussion, the location of the landfill is "exposed to earthquakes, strong winds, landslides, erosions, dredging, fogs, snow and rain for a long period, low temperatures and high temperature differences." . The authors also state that "there are occasional and permanent watercourses in the area, which can be polluted by waste water".
It is added that "adequate protection measures are provided for in the conceptual solution". As it is a conceptual solution that was developed almost ten years ago on the basis of a feasibility study at the time, it cannot be applied even today, because, if nothing else, the earlier plan was for Čelinska kosa to be a landfill for three, not 11 municipalities on to the north.
For the proposed location, a preliminary design should still be done, and new studies - Feasibility Study and Justification Study - have not been done yet.
The public debate on the two drafts lasts until October 25. The locals have said before that they are against the proposed location for the construction of the Čelinska Kosa landfill, and they will express this through a petition, which, as they said, has around 600 signatures so far. The petition will be attached with comments on the proposed documents.
Landfills (don't) stink
During the discussion, which was attended by about 60 locals and others interested in hearing about the plans for the future landfill, the organizers - MORT and the Municipality of Bijelo Polje, invited them to see other landfills and make sure that having such a facility nearby does not mean anything bad .
A similar visit would be desirable. Thus, those who live or occasionally stay in the settlements in the vicinity of the planned Čelinska Kosa landfill, could themselves feel the "smell" of the air, which is occasionally inhaled by the residents of the Podgorica settlements Konik and Stari Aerodrome, even though they are several kilometers away from the "Livade" landfill...
Positive about employment, but not about the impact on biodiversity
When evaluating the possible impacts in the case of the construction of the Čelinska kosa landfill, in the Draft Report on Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment, only the items improvement of the state of the environment and increase in economic development and employment were positively evaluated, but not the impact on bidoversity...
The environment will actually be improved in other municipalities, by closing the existing sites where waste is now dumped. There are no guarantees that other municipalities will agree to, for compensation, deposit garbage on the Čelinska kosa, as some in the south do not. Although the Možura landfill was built for the needs of both Bar and Ulcinj, the residents of Ulcinj still do not bring part of their waste to that location.
If other landfills in the north are also closed, it would mean the dismissal of a certain number of current employees. As the plan for the future landfill has not yet been drawn up, it is not known how many new jobs it would actually create and how much in the total sum of laid off and newly employed there is room for the story of "increased economic development and employment"...
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