MOSTAR, October 7 (FENA) - The verdict of the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo, which annuls the environmental permit issued by the FBiH Ministry of Environment and Tourism for the construction of two small hydropower plants on the Buna canals near Mostar, is a victory and a success and gives us an incentive to continue our struggle, said Oliver Arapović from the Ecological Association "May Flower".
“In accordance with the verdict, the procedure must be repeated due to irregularities in the issuance and neglect of the facts that the Ecological Association "May Flower" and the Youth Club "New Wave" previously pointed out. We especially emphasize that the judgment of the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo states that the FBiH Ministry of Environment and Tourism did not respect the legal procedure prescribed by the Law on Environmental Protection, that it illegally conducted a public hearing and that the record of the public hearing was not delivered to the parties, nor was it given to them for inspection, nor was it signed,” Arapović said at a press conference today in Mostar.
He added that these associations collected over 5,000 signatures of citizens who opposed the construction of small HPP Buna 1 and Buna 2.
He called on the future convocation of the Mostar City Council to correct all irregularities committed so far.
“I call on all city institutions, and especially the Department of Urbanism, to declare the urban consent, and we also have the problem of the Spatial Plan of Mostar regarding the Buna and Buna canals, and whose changes were adopted without any discussion. The future city council will have to correct all the irregularities that have been made so far, we will insist on that. We will continue to fight the legal battle and we will not give up,” Arapović pointed out.
Adnan Djuliman from the Youth Club "New Wave" pointed out that he is really happy with the verdict.
He reminded that the site of the Buna canals is protected in the Institute for the Protection of Natural Monuments of the FBiH, as well as in the Register of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton for the Protection of Natural Monuments.
“In this case, there were evident violations of procedures and regulations with the adoption of amendments to the Spatial Plan of the City of Mostar, which is not harmonized with the existing plan of BiH from 1980. The publication of the Spatial Plan in the Official Gazette, which was not previously signed by the President of the City Council, was also canceled,” said Djuliman.
(FENA) A. B.