Marina Dorćol - citizens asked questions, but there was no one to answer

Yesterday, a meeting with a group of citizens was held in the premises of the Urban Institute Dorćol in the heart, organized by the Office of the Chief City Planner, from which, watch out - no one showed up!

The meeting was organized at the initiative of the neighborhood group, which several months ago through constant (though often one-way) correspondence with the Secretariat for Environmental Protection tried to organize a continuation of the public discussion regarding the Environmental Impact Assessment Study of the Marina Dorćol project. The reason for this is the absence of the presence of numerous representatives of competent institutions, due to which the interested public was deprived of answers to a series of questions. This is precisely why they demanded that the continuation of the session be attended by representatives of the Secretariat for Urban Planning, the Secretariat for Transport, the Institute for Nature Protection, the Institute for the Protection of Monuments, the Urban Planning Institute and the Belgrade Waterworks and Sewerage, which was also mentioned in the letter sent to the chief city planner. 

However, only representatives of the Secretariat for Environmental Protection and the Urban Planning Institute appeared at the meeting. The representatives of the Secretariat immediately pointed out that, as far as they were concerned, the procedure was followed and completed, that the objections were taken into consideration (although there was no feedback on them) and that the revision of the study in question is underway. They mentioned several times that the public discussion was over, although it was said earlier that it would continue, and that this meeting represents coming out to meet to the citizens. In front of the Urban Planning Institute were the developers of the Detailed Regulation Plan for Linijski Park, which represents the planning basis for the implementation of the Marina Dorćol project. The neighborhood association had many questions related to the Marina Dorćol project, which the representatives of the Urban Institute did not know how to answer, which is somewhat understandable since they are not the authors of the conceptual solution of the project itself. The meeting was also attended by the developer of the Studio in front of the investor, who had already quarreled with the members of the local association through the media, and he appeared in a similar manner on this occasion as well. Frustration of those gathered around the association Dorćol in the heart it was obvious (and completely justified). On several occasions, they tried to call the present representatives to account and to suspend the procedure for issuing consent to the Study. However, it seems that their appeals will not reach beyond the walls of the large hall of the Urban Planning Institute, given that no decision-maker was present at the meeting, nor were minutes kept on the basis of which the decision-makers could be informed about the development of events and the views of citizens.

By not ensuring the presence of representatives of public institutions directly invited to answer questions in the domain of their competence, as well as representatives of the Office of the Chief Urban Planner, the enormous mistrust of citizens towards institutions has been deepened anew. People from the Urban Planning Institute were obviously given a hot potato, since without the presence of those who can offer adequate answers and potential solutions, all responsibility for the dissatisfaction of those present at the meeting was placed on them. On the other hand, the general impression is that citizens' concerns about the impact that the implementation of the Marina Dorćol project will have on the quality of their lives are not taken seriously at all, while their needs are completely ignored.