prijava
MOSTAR, April 23 (FENA) - The route of the Corridor 5-C which crosses the rivers Buna and Bunica and the villages of Ortiješ and Malo Polje goes over the most fertile land in the country, representatives of the local communities pointed out today together with experts who held a press conference on Tuesday in Mostar.
Ahmed Džubur, an MP in the FBiH Parliament, who announced that he would initiate adoption of a decision in the parliament to scrap the aforementioned route, said that this is the most valuable land with orchards and vineyards and that the motorway should be relocated to the area of the slopes of the Mount Velež, which, according to the feasibility and sustainability study, has been proven to be the most cost-effective with a score of 9 out of 10.
He believes that an independent international commission will completely challenge this route that even goes over the Mostar Airport, which is designated as a prospective military property which then implies that the motorway must be even further relocated from this area.
“Everywhere in the world, motorways go through relatively passive areas, i.e., they do not disturb agricultural lands, and with this current route, we are not only killing the prospect for a good standard of living of the inhabitants, but also, in every non-institutional way you can imagine, we are endangering the situation and livelihood of the returnee Serb population,” said Džubur.
The villages Ortiješ and Malo Polje are primarily returnee settlements, and after 22 years, people are once again forced to leave their land.
“This is a case of potential ethnic cleansing of Serbs in the area of the city of Mostar, as there are less than 4,000 of them compared to the former Serb population of 25,000 according to the 1991 census,” said one of the first Serb returnees in Ortiješ, Vujadin Berberović.
Architect Maja Popovac pointed out that by constructing this motorway on the route which goes through the most fertile land in the country would mean a complete annihilation of a number of plant and animal species in that area.
According to her, no methods would be sufficient enough to protect those species against, both noise and pollution, and it should not be forgotten that heavy metal pollution from the exhausts would spread unhindered no matter the protective or defense walls, meaning that the environment, air, water and agricultural plantations in this Mostar basin could not be protected.
Construction machines on the section Buna - Počitelj are now located just several kilometers from this area, and the concern of the local population is increasing, it was concluded at the press conference today.
(FENA) S. R.
