Residents of the UNESCO protected settlements Ivan Do, Bosača, Razvršje, Motički Gaj, Virak, Tepca, as well as most of the settlements in the territory of the Municipality of Žabljak, have been suffering enormous damage for years due to poor infrastructure, roads, illegal construction, and these days also due to the destruction of already bad roads by heavy by the mechanization of various contractors.
This is what the NGO Coalition for Sustainable Development (KOR) told "Vijesti", adding that the situation is such that "it seems that the contractors are trying to cause as much damage as possible to the local population for the sake of the interests of the 'legal' devastator".
They also claim that they call the competent services in vain, which, as they say, are difficult to reach, but also that "even in the first zone of UNESCO protection, illegal construction has taken off, because there is no fear of inspection or criminal liability."
"In the first zone of UNESCO protection, the construction of a building of solid construction began, next to Lake Barno itself. By the time we manage to get the proper inspections, construction will be completed, which has already happened. To clarify, when you want to contact the Municipal Police in the Municipality of Žabljak, you have to go through a series of barriers. Usually the number you called is not working or disconnected, or they call you back and say 'I'm on vacation right now so call a colleague', and they may also instruct you to contact them via email, which they claim is available on the municipality's website , but it wasn't," said KOR.
They also explain what, in practice, happened to them when, after all those steps, they reached the number of inspectors for the north of Montenegro, they forwarded them photos and data from the Urban Plan "indicating illegal construction".
"You get the following answers: 'it's Friday and we don't go out on the field until Monday', 'I'm at a funeral, call me later'... They may also answer that the data has been forwarded to the competent inspection and that you will be informed about the steps taken, but we never they did not inform. All this hides a deeper problem, which is the non-respect and non-implementation of ratified international agreements that oblige us to take care of the protection of UNESCO's natural heritage in a certain way. "Neither the legislative, judicial, nor executive authorities seem to want to stop wild construction in the most beautiful areas once and for all, and so far no one has borne either political or criminal responsibility for participating in the devastation of the territory of Montenegro," said the NGO.
They point out that turning to the Municipal Inspection has become futile, even when problems arise with water and road infrastructure:
"The municipality of Žabljak is not up-to-date in solving them, which is why we have an unpleasant situation - in the tourist area, the locals have neither roads nor water", said KOR.
They add that since the beginning of May, about a hundred illegal buildings have "sprung up" on the territory of the Municipality of Žabljak.
"Of course, they are also illegally connected to the water supply network, so in addition to those who did the same in the earlier period, now the number of illegal connections to the water supply network is equal to the number of legal ones. The largest number of illegal connections is in settlements that are officially within the borders of the UNESCO natural heritage. In the absence of responsibility and control of competent institutions, corruption is growing, which along with greed leads to organized crime," the non-governmental organization points out. DP
Bonus video:
