If they decide to build the Verige bridge, Kotor could become the fourth city removed from the UNESCO World Heritage List, they warned in interview for the Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) experts for the protection of cultural assets.
And the presidents of Boka municipalities point out that preserving this status is of the utmost importance for Boka.
In the middle of this year, Liverpool became the third city to be removed from the UNESCO List. Kotor has been on the List since 1979, but for many years it has been "flirting" with the possibility of being removed, both because of uncontrolled construction and because of plans for the Verige bridge that would connect the two coasts.
Vlada Zdravka Krivokapića did not officially give up on the bridge, the construction of which was promoted by the then Minister of Transport in the Government in 1999 Filip Vujanović, Jusuf Kalamperović.
"By building a bridge over Verig, the natural and cultural historical area of Kotor would lose or seriously threaten its status on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The authorities should wait with any project before a serious integral traffic study is done for the entire Bay of Kotor and they find adequate traffic solutions for this area, which is recognized as a cultural landscape of exceptional universal value for the whole of humanity," the architectural engineer and representative of the NGO Expeditio told CIN-CG Aleksandra Kapetanović.
At the end of last month, the state-owned company "Monteput" refused to provide the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) with part of the documentation related to the construction of this bridge, saying that it was an official secret and a work of authorship...
In 2005, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee first mentioned the issue related to the Chains, and in 2007 it required Montenegro to invite a mission from the International Council for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) to examine the sustainability of the proposed project and the impact on the cultural and landscape values of the protected site. areas. Based on the mission's recommendations, two years later the University of Aachen conducted a Visual Impact Study of the planned bridge. The Study states, among other things, that it would be "unequivocally the best solution to abandon the planned construction of the bridge and its access roads".
Through the decisions of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 2012, according to the architect Kapetanović, it was very clearly pointed out that it is necessary to reconsider the idea of the bridge at Veriga in order to explore alternative ways of connecting the bay, such as a tunnel, better ferry services, detours road and the like and find appropriate solutions in agreement with the World Heritage Center and advisory bodies.
"These requirements of the World Heritage Committee are still valid, because so far no serious integral traffic study has been done for Boka Kotorska that would find adequate traffic solutions for this extremely complex and sensitive cultural landscape," Kapetanović told CIN-CG.
The Administration for the Protection of Cultural Property (UZKD) told CIN-CG that there is a cultural property in the area of Verigo - the church of Our Lady of Anđela. This cultural asset in Lepetani has been under state protection since the end of 1976. In 2013, UZKD gave consent for the reconstruction of the Church of Our Lady of Anđela, which has since been completed.
An architect from Tivat, who was also an urban planner in the Municipality of Tivat for a long time Marija Nikolic states that the planned bridge crosses the most important visual axis of the bay.
"The main problem is precisely the cutting of that axis and the change of view from Tivat Bay and Veriga on the approach to the protected area, the change of view to Perast," explained Nikolić in an interview with CIN-CG.
However, it is not only the bridge that is the problem. The bridge is highlighted by Nikolić, just one of the buildings of the road that would pass over the Tivat. A traffic road above the Tivat, on the slope of the Vrmac hill, she claims, would produce a strong visual impact on the cultural landscape, which has great visibility, no matter how you get to Boka - by boat, plane or car.
"The Montenegrin coast is rocky and steep from Budva to the south, so it is necessary to consider what impact the road and that part of the route would have on the landscape. It is not known whether the issue of the bridge and the road has been looked at by comparing different aspects, that is, which problem will it solve versus those which will produce - impact on the landscape, impact on heritage, impact on the everyday life of citizens. Because the project divides the space into one on one side and on the other side of the road... The potential cost of construction on the terrain with this morphology and geology is not insignificant either." Nikolić pointed out.
The decision to connect the two sides of Boka has not yet been made, representatives of the Ministry of Capital Investments (MKI), whose portfolio includes the field of transport, told CIN-CG.
"We still haven't received enough material and studies on the basis of which we would make a proposal to the government for the final option. The Verige Bridge was the subject of several studies, as well as bridging the submarine tunnel from Luštica to Herceg Novi. We are still intensively gathering the opinions of experts from several fields, such as and the final financial elaboration of the project", stated the minister's department Mladen Bojanić.
The Ministry, they point out in the answer, will respect the position of the profession and support the implementation of the project variant that meets all prescribed national and international conditions and standards.
Silence in the department of Vesna Bratić
The bridge is also mentioned in the Traffic Development Strategy for the period 2019-2035. year, which was adopted by the Government Duško Marković, in which, among other things, it is written that the "particularities of the cultural and historical area of Kotor were not fully taken into account, which precisely in the Veriga zone has one of the most significant visual axes when entering or exiting the zone of the strictest protection, i.e. the zone that is inscribed on the world heritage list as an extremely valuable cultural asset".
The estimated impacts of the various segments of the Strategy on the environmental parameters are evaluated by considering the grades A, B or C as acceptable. Grades D and E are, however, unacceptable. Just those, unacceptable grades D and E, were given in the Strategy for the impact that the Verige bridge would have on the cultural heritage of the area.
"The greatest impact is expected on the cultural and historical heritage of the municipality of Kotor, especially considering that the largest number of cultural monuments in the territory of Montenegro is located in the municipality of Kotor (31 percent)," the document states.
The impact on the landscape also has an unacceptable grade D. "The most significant impact of the Strategy is expected on the landscape unit/area of the Bay of Kotor due to the planned construction of the Verige Bridge," the document states.
When asked whether the construction of the Verige bridge would affect the status of Kotor, the coordinator of the National Office for Cooperation with UNESCO Milica Nikolić she referred us to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sports. From the minister's department Vesne Bratic, however, did not answer CIN-CG's questions.
Last month, Minister Bratić participated in the 41st UNESCO General Conference in Paris. Then she said that "membership in UNESCO is one of the strategic priorities of our foreign policy", she thanked the organization for its support in previous years, "with the aim of significantly improving the preservation of the natural, cultural and historical area of Kotor".
It was in February, after a meeting with the president of the Municipality of Kotor Vladimir Jokić, said that preserving Kotor's status on the UNESCO and cultural heritage list is a priority for both city and state authorities.
Jokić also did not answer CIN-CG's questions about the Verige bridge.
President of the Municipality of Herceg Novi Stevan Katic he told CIN-CG that the city will only support the solution that is acceptable to UNESCO, stating that the construction of the bridge on Veriga is "disputed by UNESCO", but also that it is of "unquestionable importance for the whole of Boka and Montenegro preserve the status of Kotor as a city on the World Cultural Heritage List".
"The main road infrastructure in Boka has not been invested more seriously since the construction of the Adriatic highway in the sixties, which is why every year we have traffic jams, hours-long waits that block the functioning of an entire region, dissatisfied citizens and tourists," said the first man of Novi.
The tunnel is also disputed
It is for this reason that Herceg Novi is advocating for the joining of the two shores of the bay on the stretch between Zelenika and Kumbor towards Luštica, where both options are possible - the construction of a tunnel or a bridge, Katic pointed out. He also said that there is a high degree of agreement among the presidents of the municipalities of Herceg Novi, Kotor, Tivat and Budva that this is the optimal and sustainable solution for joining the two shores of the bay. The first man of Herceg Novi says that this solution should also be a state priority.
And from the Tivat Secretariat for Spatial Planning for CIN-CG, they said that the position of that municipality is that instead of Verigo, it is necessary to find an alternative solution, "bearing in mind the negative effects that the bridge would produce by disrupting the integrity and visual identity of the cultural landscape of Boka Kotorska". The Secretariat also states that in the preparation of spatial planning documents, which provide for a more detailed consideration of an alternative solution for the traffic connection that would lead through Luštica.
"With increased investment activity on the Luštica peninsula, the need for a direct road connection between Herceg Novi and the Luštica peninsula has arisen," the president of the Municipality of Tivat told CIN-CG. Željko Komnenović.
The joint idea, he explains, is to consider the construction of an undersea tunnel between the area of Zelenika in Herceg Novi and the area of Špiljica on the Luštica peninsula. At both ends, the tunnel would connect with future and existing roads via roundabouts.
The Tivat Secretariat says that financial resources for the construction of the mentioned roads and the underwater tunnel would be provided from the general budget of the Government of Montenegro or through a favorable credit arrangement.
In the last Nov elections, the idea of a sea tunnel was mentioned by the candidates for councilors of the "Black on White" coalition, and the local authorities led by DPS promoted the same project in 2015, stressing that the construction would cost around 100 million euros.
There is no need to hurry with the tunnel either, warns the non-governmental organization Expeditio, stating that the surroundings of Herceg Novi and the Luštica peninsula represent part of the protected environment (or buffer zone) of the Natural and culturally historical area of Kotor.
While the area of Kotor includes the inner Bay of Kotor-Risan, the protected environment (buffer zone) includes the entire Bay of Kotor and its hinterland, including the Bay of Tivat and Herzegnov, the slopes of Orjena and the Luštica peninsula, which can also be seen on the UNESCO website.
The representative of Expedicio Aleksandra Kapetanović emphasizes that UNESCO clearly points out that the "buffer zone" represents the area surrounding the protected property, which "has complementary legal and/or customary restrictions that are set in relation to its use and development in order to provide an additional layer of protection of the property ".
Bearing in mind that the area of Kotor is protected as an immovable cultural asset of international importance, the Law on the Protection of Cultural Assets states that the protected environment is "the area around an immovable cultural asset that is of immediate importance for its existence, protection, use, appearance, preservation and research, as well as for its historical context, traditional ambience and visual accessibility," notes Kapetanović. Also in the same Law, it is stated that "the protected environment of the immovable cultural property has the same protection as the cultural property".
Experts therefore warn that the construction of a bridge or tunnel over Luštica, as a major infrastructural intervention, would have a major impact on the cultural landscape of Boka, which, together with the natural and cultural-historical area of Kotor and its protected environment, is recognized as world heritage.
Instead of projects that could threaten Boka, insufficient work is being done on other sustainable modes of transport. Thus, Montenegro almost does not use the opportunities that the sea provides in connecting coastal municipalities. There are no regular shipping lines between cities and settlements, which could significantly relieve road traffic. Ferry Kamenari - Lepetani and taxi boats cannot replace the needs, especially during the season.
Azerbaijanis, Chinese were interested in the construction...
Crossing the Boka has been talked about for decades, but not everyone looked favorably on the bridge project over the Verig, including the former mayor of Kotor, Marija Maja Ćatović, who advocated connecting the two coasts with an underwater tunnel. Several professors of the Kotor Maritime Faculty were also against the bridge.
In March 2017, the Minister of Transport and Maritime Affairs, Osman Nurković, informed the Government that the justification study proved that the variant of the tunnel via Verigo is "many times less favorable from the spatial and urban planning, technical, economic, traffic and technical, ecological, functional and security aspects".
Several investors were interested in the construction of the bridge. In 2015, when the construction of the priority section of the Bar - Boljare highway began, the delegation of the Chinese company China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) expressed its interest in the construction of the Verige bridge during a meeting with several ministers in the government of Milo Đukanović.
This possibility was also mentioned at meetings with representatives of the Government of Duško Marković.
The CRBC did not want to answer CIN-CG's questions about the last time they discussed this issue with representatives of the authorities.
In 2016, the Azerbaijani embassy offered the Government of Montenegro that companies from that country build Verige and a bypass around Tivat for 175 million euros, which, according to the proposal of the Azerbaijanis, our country would finance with a loan that the official Baku would give at an interest rate of three percent, with a repayment term of 15 years and a grace period of five years. It was planned that the holder of the loan would be the state company "Monteput", and in the event that it could not service its obligations, then the government would return the loan. The then Minister of Transport Ivan Brajović was at the head of the team that negotiated with the Azerbaijanis. Among the team members was his successor in that position - Nurković.
The Embassy of Azerbaijan did not respond to CIN-CG whether they are still interested in the job.
CIN-CG announced a year ago that the daughters of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and his father-in-law are the ultimate owners of the company "Azmonts investments", which is building the luxury Portonovi complex in Kumbor. Portonovi is in the vicinity of the project that plans to connect traffic with Luštica.
At the beginning of 2018, representatives of the Belgian company "Besiks" also spoke with Prime Minister Marković about the construction of the bridge on Veriga.
"Besiks" group has been present in Montenegro since 2013, they are the contractor and co-investor of "Luštica Bay" and co-owners of the hotel "Chedy" there.
More than 15 years ago, both Israeli and Croatian companies were interested in this project.
KANA: There are more pressing traffic problems
A group of architects gathered around the organization "Ko ako ne arhitekt" (KANA) believes that the permanent regulation of traffic across the Bay of Kotor is necessary, but that the issue of connecting the two coasts should be the result of "the consensus of all relevant professions, aligned with the conditions for the protection of natural and cultural heritage ".
Both the bridge and the tunnel are good solutions if, KANA points out, they are built in a way that does not harm the heritage.
"Of course, we are talking about a bridge with satisfactory aesthetic qualities, which would not only be a technical traffic solution, but would be in harmony with the beauty of the bay in appearance. Since it is quite debatable, an undersea tunnel is a safe solution that would not visually disturb the bay, but the question of its feasibility and economic justification arises", stated KANA in their response to CIN-CG.
They emphasize that it is necessary to first conduct studies, both economic and technical, as well as environmental impact studies, and consider all potential solutions with the UNESCO authorities, and only then choose the final project.
"It is already possible to start a procedure that requires a lot of time, but we have other bigger and more urgent traffic problems than crossing the bay, such as better connectivity of all coastal cities, regulation of pedestrian traffic, investment in public transport and other sustainable modes of transport. The collapse that occurs in summer in traffic and the problems that arise are already enormous and unacceptable and significantly reduce the quality of life on our coast and the quality of this part of Montenegro as a tourist destination", said this group of architects.
Bonus video:
