Citizen's initiative Zdravi Mojkovac requests from the Government of Montenegro and relevant ministries not to allow the concessionaire, the company "Tara resources" to which it pointed out the contract for geological research and exploitation in Brskov, to continue its work, as well as that the plan on mining activities in that locality withdraw.
They ask the SDT to review all illegalities and initiate the procedure to determine the nullity of the contract with the concessionaire.
As stated in the announcement, the contract expired on July 25, 2023 due to unfulfilled contractual obligations on the part of the concessionaire, but the Government and relevant ministries and the National Parks of Montenegro are silent.
"Not only has the Government of Montenegro still not announced the expiration of the Agreement with the concessionaire and the Plan that must be withdrawn, but the administration of the Biogradska gora National Park, which is directly threatened by the planned mining activities, has not done so either, because they are entering the third zone of protection. Any delay in delivering the Notice of termination of the contract opens up space for potential abuse of the resulting situation, and therefore we demand that the Ministry of Capital Investments act in accordance with the Contract and the laws of Montenegro," they state in the announcement.
Despite more than a hundred substantive, technical, legal, objective objections that were submitted to the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism on the Draft DPP Brskovo and the Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment, as stated by GI Zdravi Mojkovac, despite the fact that the contracts with the companies that have drawn up the mentioned two documents and that no new contracts have been concluded, despite the letter by which the head of drafting DPP Brskovo informed the state about numerous procedural and legal violations, despite the lack of opinion of the Directorate for Ecology and Climate Change, without a single justified reason, without the opinion of UNESCO , the Ministry is silent and does not make a decision on suspending the mentioned two documents from the adoption procedure.
They state that they received official answers from the Ministry of Ecology on August 1, 2023, which unequivocally indicate the prohibition of the use of mercury, mercury compounds and mercury mixtures, as well as the export of semi-finished products and products containing mercury, the production of which was planned.
They wonder what the Ministry is waiting for to react, and the actions of JP National Parks of Montenegro and NP Biogradska gora are particularly worrying.
"We expected them to take a firm stand in defense of the NP Biogradska gora, in whose protection zone mining activities are planned. We also received a response from the Ministry of Ecology that the JP National Parks of Montenegro did not even submit an opinion on the DPP Brskovo. We are looking for answers, because this kind of deaf-mute attitude and attitude of institutions within the state towards such an important issue for the whole of Montenegro, for us citizens, is completely unacceptable", they state in GI Zdrava Mojkovac.
They remind that since the concessionaire "Tara resources" did not prepare the mining technical documentation and obtain approvals, permits and consents by the agreed deadline, the Ministry of Capital Investments is, according to them, obliged to deliver the Notice of Termination of the Agreement to the concessionaire, without giving a deadline for remedying the violations of the agreement , without the right to compensation for damages, that is, the right to compensation for costs for the works performed and the funds invested, and without the right for all other claims and the initiation of legal claims against the state of Montenegro, which is all defined by the Agreement, and signed by the concessionaire.
"We demand personal and professional responsibility, each one individually, because the national interest and the interest of citizens, health and environmental protection must come before and above any kind of personal and concessionaire interest," the statement added.
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