Member of the Bar Municipal Assembly Asim Andric claims that the Ministry of Capital Investments (MKI) falsified his remarks on the plan to grant concessions for, among other things, the quarry in the Bar settlement of Velja Gorana, for which he demanded a public apology.
Department, which is headed by the minister in technical mandate Ervin Ibrahimovic, and to the Directorate for Mining, Geology and Hydrocarbons, Andrić sent a complaint on March 14, in which he states that in the text of the document, which was also published on the Government's website, his name was "accidentally or intentionally" linked to incorrect statements and positions.
The Ministry of Capital Investments did not answer the questions of "Vijesti" regarding the complaint and the allegations in the text of the disputed report, i.e. the plan for granting concessions.
"As a resident of the Mrkojevići Local Community, on January 23, 1, through the official email for comments primedbe.koncesije@mki.gov.me, I sent comments on the Plan for granting concessions for detailed geological research and exploitation of mineral resources for the year 2023, in in which I publicly stated that I request that the locations 'Vukići' and 'Velja Gorana 2023' in the municipality of Bar be removed from the said Plan," Andrić stated, among other things.
However, as he added, "in the report from the public discussion, i.e. the Plan of which the Report is an integral part, which was published on the Government's website on March 7, 3, on pages 2023 and 15, completely wrong, incorrect and untrue statements were given ".
"Which are associated with my name, and are completely contrary to my views and proposals that I officially sent to you... which is to abolish the locations 'Vukići' and 'Velja Gorana 2' in the municipality of Bar", he stated. Andrić in a complaint to the Department of Capital Investments.
He asked the Ministry to amend and state his "clear views" in the Report from the public hearing, and he also demanded a public apology, or else, as he stated, he would go to court.
In the Concession Plan, i.e. the part of that document that contains the report from the public hearing, as Andrić's comment, among other things, it is stated that, when planning and exploiting mineral resources, the concessionaire is obliged to implement the highest possible level of environmental protection, that as a basic the requirement of sustainable development implies the use of natural resources with the application of all technological and ethical measures in order to have as little adverse impact on the environment as possible.
"From the aspect of the previous assessment of the profitability of future exploitation and processing of stone at the locations of Vukići and Velja Gorana 2, a significant increase in the demand for fractionated stone aggregates and architectural-building stone is expected, bearing in mind the beginning of the valorization of Velika plaža, which will require the construction of a significant number tourist facilities and cause a boom in construction activity in the Ulcinj area", Andrić's alleged comments on the concession plan.
Andrić also published on the Internet the contents of the e-mail messages that, as he claims, he sent to Ibrahimović's department on January 20, 2022, and again on January 23, 2023, as objections not to the plan.
Along with the request to cancel the "Vukići" and "Velja Gorana 2" locations from the plan for granting concessions for last year and this year, he stated that Mrkojević's strategic development directions are based on agriculture and tourism.
"It is known that quarries, a regional landfill and a wind farm are already operating on the territory of this local community, which greatly affect the environment and the further development of Mrkojević, in addition to the fact that there are plans to open another quarry in Velja Gorana, which is fully justified against local population", stated Andrić in the remarks of the MKI.
He added that he does not see that quarries are new investments, "instead, they are the biggest destroyers of the environment and the lives of my fellow citizens who live nearby."
"Especially because all exploitation areas are located near households, only a few hundred meters away. The aforementioned analyzes contained in the Concession Plan are absolutely incorrect and they try to cover up all the harmful consequences," Andrić wrote in the letter, in which he requested that "Vukići" and "Velja Gorana 2" be canceled from the concession plan for last year and this year.
The concession for the quarry in Velja Gorana was granted in the technical mandate of the former Government of the Democratic Party of Socialists, whose prime minister he was Dusko Markovic. The contract with the bar company "Trojan" was signed a month before the formation of the new Government in December 2020, and the residents of Velje Gorana, as they previously told "Vijesta", found out about the quarry only when they saw construction machines in the village.
In March of last year, the locals filed a lawsuit against the investor and the Government, and then they also demanded the annulment of the decision on the Elaboration of the Environmental Impact Assessment. In the meantime, the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption found that he is a former state secretary in the Ministry of Ecology Danilo Mrdak, who coordinated the team for the preparation of the report, was in a conflict of interest.
In the middle of February, a public hearing was held on the new elaboration, but the legal representative of the inhabitants of Gorana, Veselin Radulović, then said that it was "overwritten by 90 percent" and that "the law was grossly violated". The locals are now waiting for the Environmental Protection Agency's opinion on that text...
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