The forest cannot be converted into commercial facilities - PDR for Zmaj

Draft amendments to the PDR for the area of ​​the "auto-put" economic zone in New Belgrade, Zemun and Surčin for the "Zmaj" complex, which is open for public inspection until January 22, is not aligned with the higher-order plans, i.e. with the PGR of Belgrade, the PGR of the system green areas, but not with the Law on Forests.

Namely, the plan includes 5ha of forested land that forms a protective belt along the highway and which the PGR of Belgrade, as well as the PGR of the green area system, define as a forest, and for which this plan foresees the transformation into a zone of commercial activities, with a small share of green areas in the function of a protective belt. 

The concept of the plan, which was exhibited at an early public inspection in May of last year, did not include the mentioned forests in its scope, and as this is the moment when public institutions submit their conditions to the plan processor, the JP Serbia Forests submitted a response stating that the plan's boundary does not include the areas managed by this company. It is true that one part of the forest is privately owned, but regardless, when preparing the plan, it is necessary to respect the provisions of the Law on Forests, and Article 7 of this law states that the owner of the forest obliged to implement forest protection measures, which include the prohibition of devastation and clearing of forests as well as the construction of facilities that are not in the function of forest management (Article 9). In addition, the owner of the forest is obliged to protect his forest from illegal appropriation, use, destruction and other illegal actions.

To make matters worse, this transformation of forests into commercial facilities is not only taking place on privately owned plots of land, but also on those that constitute public property. Therefore, the city, instead of striving to suppress disastrous trends through the development and implementation of regulations that will represent the public interest, does the exact opposite - it adopts and implements them.

Despite the declarative commitment to the implementation of the system of green areas, which would entail changing their status from subordinate to primary city infrastructure, the plan that was adopted with this goal is still at the recommendation level. The ultimate outcome of this treatment of the plan, which has an important role in adapting the city to climate change and mitigating its consequences, is diametrically opposed to the goals of the plan, which are related to the preservation and improvement of existing forests and green areas in the city. And so, instead of creating the climatic and ecological infrastructure of the city, which would represent a good of general interest for all citizens, commercial spaces are created for which we do not know what their purpose is, so we can indulge in imagining what could be offered to us in them. – perhaps air purifiers as a substitute for cut down forests?