A team of construction experts from the Institute of Civil Engineering, Duško Lučić and Radenko Pejović, who were hired by the Municipality of Herceg Novi to assess the damage to the so-called "blue building", believes that the stability of the building is not at risk and that there is no danger of collapse, writes the RTHN portal.
However, they emphasize that the repair of the damaged part, as well as a geodetic survey of the facility, are necessary.
Their findings contradict the assessment of the inspection of the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property, which had previously ordered the immediate eviction of the tenants, the media outlet reminds.
As Lučić said, approximately a quarter of the building is problematic, while the rest of the building is safe, but it is necessary to conduct a detailed examination of the terrain.
"There is a sequence of steps that must be followed in the process of bringing the building back to, conditionally speaking, its original state. The inspector viewed the situation as much as he could visually. In my opinion, the reaction was a bit too harsh. At most, a quarter of the building is at risk, and in a way that makes rehabilitation feasible and possible," said Lučić.
He believes that the deformation of the foundations and excessive stresses occurred due to the leaching of material from under the foundations, caused by groundwater, which is why it is necessary to consider the geomechanical and hydrogeological characteristics of the terrain.
Pejović points out that it is urgently necessary to organize continuous monitoring of the condition of the facility.
"Benchmarks should be set up tomorrow, the facility should be geodetically surveyed and any changes should be monitored to determine whether deformations are progressing. The facility is safe and its stability is not at risk, but monitoring is necessary as a precaution. If, for example, it were to move even ten centimeters in a short period of time, that would be alarming, but I do not expect that to happen," said Pejović.
Due to the urgency of the situation, he added, it is necessary to start work as soon as possible, even without public procurement procedures.
The President of the Municipality of Herceg Novi, Stevan Katić, said that the priority is to prepare a study of the geodetic and hydrogeological situation, survey the facility, set up landmarks, and organize constant monitoring.
"Regarding the role we have here, we received the minutes that arrived from this inspector on behalf of the Ministry of Spatial Planning. And we have already discussed somewhere, when it comes to that part, to provide some alternative accommodation, since it is the municipality's obligation, when such accidental situations occur. We will certainly talk to them, to see what their final position is," said Katić, as reported by the RTHN portal.
He added that he is in communication with the legal representative of the Tenants' Assembly, as the holder of the right of disposal, in order to define further legal steps, and stressed that he is encouraged by the findings of the construction experts.
"We will continue discussions to define everything through written documentation, that is, through the preparation of a study that will clearly show what needs to be done for the further functionality of the building. That is the conclusion from today's site visit for now," said Katić.
Despite the more positive findings of the expert, the residents are still upset. As Nataša Mirković points out, she does not fully believe any of the findings.
"We'll see how the situation develops. First they said we can sleep peacefully, and then that the building must be urgently monitored. All of this is quite unknown to me because I'm not in that profession. The question is also how the rehabilitation will be carried out, which part of the building, and whether we will be safe after that. Who guarantees that the problem won't arise again in a year, two or five years, given the volume of construction in this part of the city," said Mirković.
The building inspector's findings, according to the residents, caused confusion, panic and shock, and as Boris Pavlović states, at one point the ambulance also intervened.
"I believe that the minutes were drawn up hastily and exaggeratedly, especially since we have not yet received an official conclusion from their meeting, which we could appeal. We cannot initiate legal proceedings based on the minutes themselves. We need to receive an official report and only then act in accordance with the law," said Pavlović.
He added that some of the tenants are encouraged by the expert's findings, and that they hope that the situation with the "blue building" will be resolved in a positive direction in the coming period.
The local government will communicate with the Building Inspectorate to see what their final position is in relation to today's findings by independent construction experts and determine further steps accordingly.
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