Deputy Mayor of Podgorica Boris Spalevic announced that the competent authorities will prosecute several owners of illegal structures in the Mareze canal.
Spalević also told "Vijesti" that the city companies "Zelenilo" and "Deponija" have removed 15 such objects since the beginning of the year, adding that the Mareza canal should be fully passable by the end of March.
"The subjects of supervision were ordered to remove various barriers, auxiliary facilities, a chicken coop, a dog house, a field toilet, stadium floodlights, walled bridges, metal and concrete fences, metal gates, manholes, generators and junction boxes. The subjects of supervision, whose identities are known, acted according to the measures ordered by the inspectors, while the irregularities noted by unknown subjects were eliminated by the services engaged in cleaning the aforementioned canal," said Spalević, adding that "this will complete the first phase of the Mareze canal renovation."
At the beginning of the year, due to heavy rainfall, numerous settlements in Podgorica and Danilovgrad were flooded.
In the capital, the most critical areas were the settlements of Beri, Mareza, Tološi and Doljani, which were most at risk from flooding.
Since January 7, when the rehabilitation of the Mareza Canal began, two barriers in the Pavlovine settlement have been removed, and a pontoon bridge has been installed instead of the embankment that connected the houses to the other side of the river.
According to Spalević, during the second phase of the canal rehabilitation, experts will be hired to determine "what type of renovation should be carried out."
"A bill of quantities and a preliminary estimate of the works will be prepared and, once the conditions are met, the process will begin. The soil in the canal in the Donja Gorica area, Dušana Duće Mugoše Street, will be removed when the weather conditions allow - within 30 days, and the work will be carried out by 'Deponija'. The removal orders are all addressed to identified persons," he explained.
The third phase, he points out, involves the construction of a promenade from the source of the Mareza River to the Koman Bridge, and the city administration, he claims, has already ordered the Chief City Architect to develop a preliminary design.
"So far, the Inspection Department (UIP) of the Capital City, the water inspector, in cooperation with business companies and the authorities of the Capital City, have carried out a complete tour of the Mareza Canal in order to determine the factual situation, noted critical points and undertaken measures and actions aimed at cleaning the canal. In several locations, it was established that the flow of water was illegally interrupted in such a way that the canal was filled with various waste, decades of sedimentation, overgrown with undergrowth, attacked with auxiliary facilities, improvised road crossings, bridges, various barriers in the form of bags filled with sand, fences, reflectors, garbage, construction waste...", he said.
Spalević previously told the editorial staff that he would file criminal charges against “those who allowed illegal construction in the Mareza Canal.” He announced that he would act equally on all illegal structures, adding that he would not allow them to be legalized.
The capital said in January that the Mareza Canal would be "liberated in its entirety and in its original form, as it was before the usurpation."
"The legal entity that constructed the facilities in the canal bed will be ordered to vacate the canal as soon as possible and return it to its previous condition. If it fails to act in accordance with the decision of the Inspection Administration, the removal will be carried out by the Capital City, through the Spatial Protection of Montenegro, with which the Capital City has a contract, and at the expense of the legal entity that committed the usurpation," they said.
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