Montenegro has not created adequate conditions in the implementation of environmental protection, as regards protection from forest fires.
This was assessed by the State Audit Institution (DRI), which is why the chairman of the Committee for Tourism, Agriculture, Ecology and Spatial Planning, Dragan Krapović, scheduled a control hearing before that parliamentary body for today.
The member of the Senate of the State Audit Institution, Branislav Radulović, pointed out that many recommendations concerning protection against forest fires were not implemented by the competent institutions or they did so partially, which is why the situation is not good and is worrying, and that the Parliament has mechanisms to force the audit subjects to do so .
Last year, as Radulović announced, the costs from the fire, that is, only from burnt trees and other greenery, without extinguishing costs and others, were 6,4 million euros.
Miljanić: Tighten the penalties for causing fires
In relation to the recommendations that DRi gave two years ago to the competent institutions regarding the protection of forests from fire, their implementation was not efficient enough, so, as pointed out by Radulović, the state audit recommended that it is necessary to intensify activities on the implementation of the recommendations and gave the subjects audit for another nine months to submit a new report.
Radulović stated that the SAI gave forty-two 42 (69) recommendations to audit subjects, and that of that number, 11 recommendations were implemented, 18 recommendations were partially implemented, 17 were in the implementation phase, and that 23 recommendations were not implemented.
He pointed out that, among other things, the low level of recommendations was not implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Minister without portfolio Zoran Miljanić, everything "that Radulović announced is more or less known, every year we have more or less the same problems. Everyone from their branch must do everything to respond to the recommendations, to finally get serious, because according to these reports, we see that the institutions were not serious. "We will do everything we can, as far as we are concerned," said Miljanic.
He believes that the penal policy must be tightened, i.e. that the penalties for causing fires are light.
"It is necessary to make the punishments tougher, when you take into account the fact that 90 percent of fires are caused by the human factor," Miljanić pointed out.
The Minister of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism, Ana Novaković Đurović pointed out that the SAI gave her department two recommendations, both of which are in the implementation phase.
Pilots lost their license
Acting Director General for Protection and Rescue, Miodrag Bešović, pointed out that the condition of the helicopter unit is not at a satisfactory level, which is generally known.
He reminded that they submitted a report on the situation to the previous Government with recommendations on what needs to be done.
However, as he pointed out, they did not receive a positive response, especially from the Ministry of Finance.
Bešović pointed out that it was a waste of time, that the current government had initiated a shortened procedure in order to have one plane ready for the fire season. He pointed out that the pilots did not even have a sufficient number of flights, which is why they lost their license, because it is necessary for them to have a certain number of hours.
Democratic Front MP Slaven Radunović asked Bešović if he has an estimate of how much money is needed to repair the planes or buy two new ones. Because, as he pointed out, he does not believe that anyone in Montenegro would be against repairing the planes or getting new ones.
Bešović clarified that he does not currently have precise information on how much money is needed for the repair, but he pointed out that he can prepare that information, that is, deliver it.
He said that Montenegro has five planes at its disposal, and that one new "air tractor" costs three million euros.
"Fifteen reports and nothing done"
The Vice President of Nikšić Municipality, Zoran Tomić, pointed out that for the first time, after 15 years, the firefighters in that city received fire fighting suits last year, and pointed out that they lack more equipment.
"What endangers people's lives is something we have to take care of," Tomić said.
The commander of the Protection and Rescue Service of the Capital City, Goran Janković, said that the fire protection system in Montenegro rests on the local services, and that they have a lot of help from the helicopter unit.
He pointed out that that Service submitted 15 reports for causing a general danger, that is, causing a fire, and that nothing was done about it.
Fatić: Fire damage in 2020 more than 12 million
Member of the Democratic Party of Socialists Predrag Sekulić pointed out that Montenegro has a problem, because it is evident that we are not prepared for forest fires.
"At the same time, we cannot talk about the fire season, because the fire in Kolašin was in March," said Sekulić.
He emphasized that recognition should be given to the firefighters, who go to interventions insufficiently equipped.
Sekulić's party colleague Bogdan Fatić stated that the damage from fires in Montenegro in 2020 was over 12 million euros.
Bešović pointed out that our pilots only recently started using the tetra system, and that until then they were answering their mobile phones and thus communicating with the team on the ground, which instructed them how to get, that is, throw the water to the right location.
Miljanić: The state has not acquired a helicopter for 24 years
Miljanić pointed out that one helicopter was manufactured in 1972, and the other was manufactured in 1998.
This says, as he pointed out, that Montenegro has not acquired a helicopter for 24 years, that the current ones are outdated, and "we are burning under our feet".
"Montenegro does not have a specialized hekicopter for firefighting, for transporting patients... We submitted a proposal to the Government that it is necessary to buy one, that information was adopted, but later withdrawn," Miljanić pointed out.
He said that such an aircraft would cost ten million euros, that they had the option to buy it on lease, with a grace period, but that in the end nothing happened.
"The only one in the region without a state enterprise for forest management"
The head of the Directorate for Forestry in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Ranko Kankaraš, pointed out that there are preventive and repressive measures.
As he said, preventive measures refer to field services, which work directly to detect and extinguish fires.
"Why did I talk about the reform of the forestry sector, because we are the only country in the region that does not have a state enterprise for forest management. This means that we do everything in the forestry sector through administrative decisions, procedures, to cut down one cubic meter we need a government decision," he said. is Kankarash.
Preventive measures are not only extinguishing, in the area of Pljevlja there are over a hundred cubic meters of rotting wood in the forests, he added.
"We are skipping a set of preventive measures, to remove that material, we are buying planes, that is the privilege of rich countries. If anyone here tells me that a plane put out a fire, I will immediately leave here," said Kankaraš.
Better coordination of competent services is needed
Radulović pointed out that the SAI will appear before the Board again in nine months and that he hopes that then there will be more green than red fields in the report.
President Krapović said, among other things, that they had a high-quality discussion and that probably everyone agrees that the problem is systemic, that better coordination between the competent services is needed, that it is necessary to consider whether we should move towards decentralization of the system, that the chronic problem is the lack of money, that a better penal policy is needed...
Board members have until June 17 to submit their proposals for solving the problem, which would be agreed upon and then sent to the authorities for further action.
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