There must be no justification or excuse to jeopardize the status of the Kotor area on the UNESCO World Heritage List, it was said at today's conference of the Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG).
"The scale of the systematic destruction of Boka in these three decades is more severe than those that occurred after the 1979 earthquake. And then it was possible to restore the heritage... In some cases, reconstructions are impossible, and the devastation is permanent", said the director of CIN-CG Milka Tadić Mijović at the conference "Between pressure from builders and preservation of World Heritage status".
The conference was organized within the project "Strengthening civil society in the fight against the devastation of space and protected areas" which CIN-CG and Expeditio are implementing with the support of the EU, through the Center for Civic Education (CGO).
Director of CGO Daliborka Uljarević said that "construction has long been reduced to installation".
"It seems to me that first of all we have not learned to love Montenegro in a way that we give to it, and not just take from it... Kotor men and women must take more responsibility for themselves, for the well-being of their municipality and their heritage," she said.
Architect Marija Nikolić said at the conference that if we were to walk along the bay now, we would see that construction flourishes better than nature.
The President of Kotor Municipality, Vladimir Jokić, said at the panel that progress has been made, but that the local authorities are mostly powerless.
"People think that we in the Municipality can decide something, but we can't do anything. The only method of influencing the decision is to be as loud as possible. We submit a negative opinion, maybe a ministry accepts it, maybe not. It has no binding element... The only reason why there won't be a bridge on Vergi is not domestic wisdom, but a foreign factor involved - UNESCO and its expert bodies. If it were up to us, we would surely find a way to build it," he said.
Assistant to the Minister of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism, Marina Izgarevic, said that the preparation of the HIA study for Verige has been initiated, despite the fact that UNESCO has clearly stated that there is no bridge there. "The spatial plan will have to determine whether there will be a bridge there or not. That is, in essence, it cannot be found if the opinion that is binding on us is respected," she said at the conference.
Biljana Gligorić from Expeditio pointed out that "here we have decision-makers who express more helplessness than we from the non-governmental sector", while her colleague Aleksandra Kapetanović pointed out that she does not agree that nothing can be done.
"We pay both the state and the local self-government to do their job, and if you are not able to do that, you can always state it publicly and resign, if you are not able to save that space," she said, adding that there are mechanisms.
At the end of the conference, recommendations were made, which, among other things, include strengthening institutions, spatial planning reform, strengthening the role of the Kotor Area Management Council, assuming responsibility, strengthening the local community.
As part of the conference, the documentary film "Endangered Heritage" was shown, which will be shown on Vijesti Television tomorrow at 20.30:XNUMX p.m.
Bonus video:
