The residents of Botuni announced that they will defend the construction of the collector with a day-and-night guard in a tent, announcing that they will remain on the ground until December 14th, when a referendum on the matter is scheduled in the municipality of Zeta, and even longer "if someone tries to carry out the work by force."
They set up the tent on Friday, and are calling on the mayor of Podgorica to compromise on another location where the collector would be built. Saša Mujović, Minister of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property Slaven Radunović, premiere Milojko Spajić and other government representatives.
Locals said they were ready to block access for machinery to the area where the construction of the wastewater treatment plant is planned, since the Ministry of Spatial Planning, headed by Radunović, has issued a construction permit.
Resident of Botun Milan Ćetković said that "at the cost of his life he would not let a single shovel be dug" at the planned location.
"They announce that they will come to build, we will not let them even put a shovel in there at the cost of their lives, until the referendum in Zeta is over. When the referendum is over, if the residents of Zeta and Botun are in favor of building a collector, good luck to them. But they need to take good care of what will happen after December 14th," Ćetković told "Vijesti" yesterday.
He said that he is certain that the residents of Zeta will vote in favor of not building the collector in the referendum.
They propose a location near the Luča bridge
He pointed out that the locals have been fighting against the construction of a collector at that location for 20 years, recalling that they offered an alternative nearby. At that time, he says, they were told that it was not possible, although a private company is now building hangars on that site.
"Yesterday we proposed a new location near the Luča bridge, where there is a huge area. We are looking for a compromise, but no one is calling us," said Ćetković.
He pointed out that Prime Minister Spajić told them in his cabinet last year that the collector would not be built at that location without the support of the residents of Botun. He also recalled the statement of Mayor Mujović, who, as he says, said on January 14 during his stay in Zeta that "the collector will not be built over the knee, nor against the will of the residents of Botun", adding that he "has no problem not being the mayor".
Ćetković said that the authorities are now under great pressure to begin construction primarily because of the European Union, but that they will encounter strong resistance from locals.
"We'll lie down in those meadows, they won't do it here, for sure," said Ćetković.
The capital city previously said that the collector must be built because Podgorica risks losing millions of euros in EU grant funds and the possibility of paying high penalties. Mujović previously warned that the funds are time-bound and that abandoning the project would lead to a serious financial blow to the budget.
The Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Northern Development (MERS) rejected at the end of October an appeal by the residents of Botuni against the decision of the Environmental Protection Agency, which gave approval to the impact assessment study for the project to build a wastewater treatment plant (collector) in that Zeta settlement.
They can only "run over us with machines"
Ćetković stressed that the tent will remain in place until December 14, and if an agreement on a new location is not reached by then, it will remain there even after that "if they think they are using force."
He said that they told the authorities that they could reach a compromise with them regarding the new locations for the collector that the locals are proposing:
"It would be good if they invited us, sat down with us... We are aware that Podgorica urgently needs this collector, but not at this location...", said Ćetković.
He pointed out that the president of the Democratic People's Party (DNP) Milan Knezevic has nothing to do with this:
"Knežević is one of the citizens of Zeta who stands with us. All political parties in Zeta stand with Milan Knežević. They were all here yesterday to support these people. So there is no politics here..."
Responding to the question of whether they have information that the works could begin in the coming days, Ćetković said that if they bring a single machine, they can only "run over them with machines".
"They will probably use the police for assistance. Rest assured, the residents of Botun and Zeta will not put up any resistance to the police, nor will we allow it. But we want to lie down on that meadow, in front of those machines, so let them trample us. They will not build it any other way until the referendum is over. Once the referendum is over, we will see what the situation is," said Ćetković.
He pointed out that previously, barracks near KAP and in Ćemovsko polje were offered as possible locations for the collector.
"Let the citizens of Podgorica understand one thing. They have no need to be angry with the residents of Botun. We have been fighting against this for 20 years. We wrote petitions, we wrote letters to the president, the government, the parliament, the European delegation... They never received us. What they have received us for the past two, three years, they have been passing us by," said Ćetković.
He said that no one forced either Spajić or Mujović to make promises to them:
"And how can I trust them that this collector will be modern? They may not be in power in a year. Someone else will come, and if the work starts, they will say, we are not to blame, but those who were there before, and therefore we will not allow it," said Ćetković.
He told the director of the Police Directorate that Lazar Šćepanović sent a letter in August asking him to meet with them for an interview to let him know what they intended to do if the machines arrived, but he did not respond.
Who would allow another "ecological bomb"?
A local from Botuna Blagota Stojanović said that locals "gave hundreds of human lives for the Aluminum Plant and the red mud pools," and that he believes that the authorities should finally pay more attention to their local community:
"In 1979, the capital had 53.000 inhabitants, and today it has one third of the total population of the country. Since then, until today, no one has thought of building this facility much earlier and in another location, but they let the construction mafia build residential buildings, and they ruined us."
Stojanović said that they had been convincing them for more than ten years, saying that this was the only way out of the ecological situation, to build a collector on the territory of this local community.
"To create another ecological bomb that will make us much sicker, and bury it as soon as possible. Who can allow that," said Stojanović.
Responding to the question of whether they expect an inspection to arrive, given the Capital City's claims that the location is located in the cadastral municipality of Dajbabe, i.e. Podgorica, a local resident Jagoš Bećirović said that due to the unresolved border demarcation, everything is still being taken to the Capital.
"The old people of Botunja know what the land of Botunja is, Mujović, who came from Lijeva Rijeka and (Aleksandar) Nišavić "who came from Berane to set boundaries for us here," he said.
He said that all political parties from Zeta came to support them:
"I would expect Spajić to come too, and (Jacob) Milatović, i (Aleksa) Bečić. Spajić and Milatović were at the roundabout when Zeta was forcibly seceded. They came to give support. After all, we are residents of Montenegro, so we have no less rights, neither than Mujović, nor Bečić, nor Milatović, nor Spajić...”, said Bećirović.
He pointed out that this location was determined "in a corrupt and falsified manner":
"I don't get involved in projects, so I'm not an expert, but it seems that here, 'good morning' is one million, 'good afternoon' is two. Some consulting services are mentioned, tens of millions, I really don't know, I don't understand that," said Bećirović.
Bonus video:
