The danger of a new landslide in the old place - through Pinješ, which is why the road has been closed to traffic since Friday, has brought additional headaches to the leaders of Ulcinj, with a painful reminder that at least four more locations must be acted upon as soon as possible in order to prevent landslides and soil erosion with unforeseeable consequences.
The eerily collapsed walls in the Old Town await rehabilitation, which, like the cataclysmic landslide in Kruče, is currently quieting down. The demolition of stones and rocks under the Palace of Venice above the southern entrance to the Old Town is active, while on Ada they have been fighting against erosion and the disappearance of the beach for months...
In the meantime, the public has been denied information on whether in the past two years, since huge amounts of soil, stones and rocks fell on both lanes of the Pinješki road, the announced team of experts was engaged and if so, whether a plan for the rehabilitation of the landslide was prepared, a tender was published...
The recommendations of the expert public - that that part of the road should be protected at least with retaining walls, did not merit the attention of the city fathers at the time...
A Gojko Bogojević, Aleksandra Božović i Nadica Dimitrijević they will remember that January 12, 2021 and the road through Pinješ probably for the rest of their lives, because they were seconds away from tragedy, although in the end they passed with minor injuries.
"I thought I was going to stay there," said Bogojević after barely making it out of the passenger seat.
Dimitrijević told "Vijesta" that everything seemed unreal.
"The flag that falls on the road as if in some slow motion, then the earth and stones that push the car towards the abyss as if through eternity... And in fact, it all lasted two seconds," she says.
Necessary tests
A famous civil engineer Lunji's mentor he said then that in the case of Pinješ it was a shallow but high slide.
"In that part, sandstones, loams, clays and obviously abundant water soaking prevail, besides increasing the mass of the sliding part, i.e. increasing the load on the sliding plane, it destroyed the contact with the rock and that part of the hill gave way", he explained.
He assessed that before any interventions, geomechanical tests are necessary, which will determine the composition of the layers and the stability of the terrain against future landslides.
"In the meantime, it is necessary to create temporary retaining walls for the safety of road users," said Lunji.
As then, so today - the road is closed again, huge rocks and amounts of wet earth are still reaching towards the road, the locals are afraid...
The two-and-a-half-millennium-old walls are also collapsing
Two days before the broken part of the hill fell on the busy road in Pinješ, on January 10, 2021, the walls of the ancient fortress, two and a half millennia old, collapsed. The collapse of the walls in the Old Town, in contrast to erosion in Pinješ and Kruče, which are the consequences of natural processes, was predominantly contributed by the human factor.
"You don't need to be a construction expert to recognize what caused the collapse of the walls of the Old Town in Ulcinj. It is clear that there was an illegal filling of soil and rubble at a height of one and a half to two meters, which produced an active pressure for which the walls were not designed. If we add to that water soaking from heavy rainfall, which increased the horizontal pressure, then the cause is crystal clear...", said Lunji at the time.
He stated that the collapse could partly have been helped by the loose limestone at the contact between the walls and the bedrock, which gave way under additional pressure.
"... This is not so much a static problem, as it might seem at first glance, it is more about a restoration and conservation issue. Static intervention is not as complicated as it will be problematic to return the walls to their previous state... and we need to intervene as soon as possible," Lunji pointed out.
Who is responsible for the remediation not starting?
Confirmation of his story came recently from the Administration for the Protection of Cultural Properties, which denies responsibility because the restoration of the collapsed walls on the southern side of the Old Town has not yet begun.
In that state institution, in their response to "News", they claim that they have created all the legal prerequisites for the project, done in accordance with conservation conditions, to be submitted to the Administration for approval, but that no one has done so to date.
"We inform you that the expert team of the Administration for the Protection of Cultural Property, after receiving the notification about the collapse of the ramparts, visited the site in question in January 2021 and recorded the damage. All relevant institutions were informed about the situation found on the ground, attention was drawn to the alarming nature of the situation, and a request was sent for help in starting the necessary procedures", reads the response of the Administration.
It is added that in accordance with the request of the Municipality of Ulcinj for the issuance of conservation conditions, on May 24, 2021, the Administration issued conservation conditions for the purposes of creating urban planning and technical conditions for the rehabilitation of the collapsed part of the southern rampart wall.
They note that in accordance with the Law on the Protection of Cultural Property, for the development of a conservation project for the implementation of conservation measures on an immovable cultural property, the Administration issues conservation conditions at the request of the owner, that is, the holder of the cultural property.
It is further stated that, in accordance with the same Law, consent to the conservation project is given by the Administration, at the request of the owner, that is, the holder of the cultural property, or the company that audits the technical documentation, that is, the authority responsible for issuing the building permit.
"Unfortunately, despite all our efforts to systematically overcome this situation, as evidenced by the documentation of this Administration, we inform you that to date, the project carried out in accordance with the conservation conditions issued by this authority, has not been submitted to the Administration for approval", the "News" replied.
The current local administration did not advertise on this occasion.
But the former local government claimed in March of last year, just before the local elections, that all the conditions had been met for the rehabilitation of the collapsed ramparts to begin soon. Former Secretary for Utilities Adnan Alibegu he confirmed this to "Vijesta", stating that the necessary funds have already been provided and that the necessary written consent has been obtained from the company "SJ Property" for the use of part of their plot within the old city walls for the purpose of carrying out works.
In the meantime, there were local elections and a change of government, but also turbulent events at the state level surrounding the formation of a minority government.
Also, immediately after the demolition of the walls two years ago, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports announced that they would provide money for the rehabilitation of the walls, and that, in cooperation with the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism, they would work on the permanent protection of the cultural heritage of the Old Town. Assistance for rehabilitation was also provided by the Embassy of Kosovo.
Current President of the Municipality Omer Bajraktari recently in an interview for "Vijesti", talking about the continuous falling of stones and rocks under the Palace of Venice at the entrance to the Old Town from the south, and the fact that nothing has been done to repair the collapsed walls in another place two years ago, he said that this is a big problem that requires a lot of preparation, knowledge and resources. He expressed the willingness of the Municipality to participate in solving that problem with the support of the central authorities and with the engagement of experts and reference institutions.
In spite of everything, the renovation of the walls cannot begin, the rocks are collapsing now and in other places, even though the Old Town, which has existed for two and a half millennia and is one of the oldest on the Adriatic, has long been declared a monument of the first category. It is especially alarming under the Palace of Venice, where several cases of falling stones and rocks have already been recorded, which for now stop at the existing retaining wall. The only question is when it will reach the street, cars and passers-by.
Kruče warns
Just as is the case with the part of Kruč, where on the night of March 2015, about 70 weekend houses headed towards the sea. Ruined homes, excavated roads, craters and fissures bore witness to the eerie night. Although rehabilitation plans were announced, the public still knows nothing about it... In the meantime, the owners of the cottages have changed their place of residence.
"News" was recently told in the Municipality that they do not know what the current situation is in Kruče.
"Kruče is an active landslide 'retired' until the moment when this apparent stability is not disturbed by external or internal activities, such as precipitation, and even slight movements of the ground due to earthquakes. Basically, we are talking about sediments full of water that will continue to be in motion... Hardly anything of quality can be done there without serious investments", Lunji assessed at the time.
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