WE REQUEST A REPEAT OF THE PUBLIC INSPECTION OF THE DRAFT
SPATIAL PLAN OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

Associations advocating for a healthy environment and sustainable urban development have today submitted a request for a repeat of the public review process of the Draft Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia and the Report on Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment.

The Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure committed a series of illegal actions during the public inspection procedure and denied citizens the right to express objections to the Draft Spatial Plan and the Strategic Impact Assessment Report at a public presentation. After the illegal public inspection, the Ministry scheduled a public meeting of the Planning Commission just two days before the meeting, effectively preventing the public from expressing objections and comments on the Draft Spatial Plan, which is one of the most important planning documents of the Republic of Serbia. The public meeting of the commission, which as a rule is held after a public inspection and is not the same as a public presentation, was announced by the Ministry on June 23, and the meeting is scheduled for June 25. In addition, the Ministry persistently refers to the public session of the planning commission as the public session of the commission for public inspection, although no such commission actually exists.

The Rulebook on the content, method and procedure of creating spatial and urban planning documents is clear and does not leave any dilemma regarding the obligation to organize a public presentation:

"During the presentation of the draft spatial plan for public inspection, the competent ministry, i.e. the competent authority of the autonomous province, i.e. the competent authority of the local self-government unit, in cooperation with the processor of the planning document, organizes at least one public presentation of the draft planning document, no later than ten days before the end of the public inspection ."

In the request, the associations pointed out that "Long-term strategic decisions for the mining and energy sector are in complete contradiction to confirmed international agreements, and above all to the Paris Agreement, because this plan envisages the continuation of lignite exploitation and the construction of six new thermal power plants with a total capacity of 3,3 GW . Kolubara B is among these thermal power plants, even though the Minister of Energy, Zorana Mihajlović, recently announced that she was abandoning this project. "The draft spatial plan foresees the construction of small hydropower plants with a total capacity of 387 MW. "It is obvious that this plan lays the groundwork for the continuation of the pernicious and devastating energy policy that moves Serbia further and further away from the European Union and the fulfillment of the international obligations that it has accepted," said the representatives of the association.

We do not agree to circumventing democratic procedures and violating regulations persistently implemented by the Ministry of Construction, and we invite other associations and free citizens of Serbia to join the request for a repeat of the public inspection.

The request was submitted by: Belgrade Open School, Ministry of Space, Young Researchers of Serbia, National Ecological Association, Polekol Association, Regulatory Institute for Renewable Energy and Environment (RERI), World Nature Organization WWF Adria, Center for Biodiversity Research, Center for Cultural Decontamination and Prof. Dr. Petar Djukic.