Residents of the villages of Grbalj invited Abazović to close the quarry

Residents of the Grbalje villages of Višneva and Krimovice will organize a large protest on Sunday, dissatisfied with the ignorant behavior of the Government, which, despite their warnings, does not want to close the Platac quarry, which has been managed by the Budva mayor's company for the past decade and a half. Marko Tsarević, has already published a public invitation to grant a concession for three decades.

They sent a letter to the Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazović, stating that they are expressly against the decision of the Government, on the basis of which the Ministry of Capital Investments issued a public call for tenders for the award of a Concession Agreement for detailed geological research and exploitation of technical-building stone from the Platac deposit.

Department headed by a minister Mladen Bojanic, in the past months, since the concession deed was presented to the public, it has come under the attack of accusations from the locals, the Municipality of Kotor, and the NGO MANS, that the whole procedure was allegedly rigged so that the quarry, as in the past 15 years, is managed by the company "Carinvest". On the last day of last year, "Carinvest"'s contract expired.

"We were at a meeting with the president of the Municipality of Kotor Vladimir Jokić, who supported our efforts. On February 14, he submitted to the Ministry of Capital Investments the opinion of the Municipality of Kotor on the Government's decision, where he supports the position of the residents of Grblje and the leadership of the local communities in this area. He demanded that after the expiration of the existing concession contracts, rehabilitation and recultivation of the existing ones should be carried out, without the possibility of opening new concession areas", the locals state in the letter to Abazović.

As they emphasize, they also turned to the Directorate for Inspection Affairs, which supervised the quarry and determined that the machinery was parked, and that the company "Carinvest" lost its concessionaire status, but not the right and obligation to carry out reclamation work on the former Platac surface mine. .

"Also, the Serbian Orthodox Church Municipality of Grbalje, at a meeting held in May 2020, made a unanimous decision that it is expressly against all new quarries on the territory of Grbalje that endanger churches and church property. The local community of Savina Donji Grbalj made a unanimous decision that it is against the granting of new concessions, the opening of quarries, landfills, asphalt bases and other projects that would degrade the space in this area. The quarry touches the zone for tourism according to the Plan of the Coastal Area of ​​Montenegro", according to the residents of the villages of Grbalje.

They reminded Abazović that he said in the program Načisto on Television Vijesti that "Carinvest" will not get an extension of the concession.

"We are asking you to help us protect life in the countryside, the environment, and instead of working with bows, dust, blasting, and the smell of asphalt base, we listen to the chirping of children, the chirping of birds and enjoy the natural beauty of small villages on the coast. We invite you to visit our area and see for yourself on the spot everything we have written," the locals point out.

In the proclamation, the locals stated that they will hold a peaceful protest on Sunday in the village of Višnjeva in the town of Nerina, dissatisfied because none of the authorities they addressed responded to.

"We have not encountered any understanding from the current government, there is no progress in solving our problems. We have repeatedly addressed all the representatives, now technical Government, as well as the embassies in Montenegro. We call on all government officials to contribute to solving our problem, while we, the locals, will take all legal and civil options," say the locals.