The “Miloš Veliki” highway section from Pakovraće to Požega officially opens for traffic today. The president yesterday opened the highway, despite the profession, i.e., engineers, not having confirmed that the section was completed. Geologist Branislav Božović explains what needs to be done to guarantee safety.
Engineers responsible for professional supervision on the “Miloš Veliki” highway section, from Pakovraće to Požega, unanimously refused to sign the Inspection Report of the works, as well as consent to the list of unfinished works. These are documents without which it is impossible for construction inspectors to issue a confirmation that the section is completed, Insajder reported.
Vučić’s Stance
The president, nevertheless, opened this section yesterday and had reactions on the matter. “This business with opening the road to Požega is driving me crazy. Every day it’ll be tomorrow… It’s no use, some paper is always missing because someone didn’t sign something, and that’s just stalling now. The hill is moving 0.1 millimeter—who are you kidding with 0.1 millimeter? I don’t know, but that’s how it goes – everyone tries to stop the state,” Aleksandar Vučić stated.
Geologist Contradicts Vučić
The geologist explains to N1 what it means that the experts did not give their consent.
“It was impossible for me that the entire team for the final act of accepting the technical feasibility of putting the road into operation showed that the situation must be such that some part, I’m not talking about the whole route… If the process endangers one of the most important structures, which is a tunnel, then such matters are approached differently. This is not about safety, but about total control, attention, increased observation, monitoring of groundwater phenomena,” he told N1.
Decisions, Božović emphasizes, should be made exclusively by experts, and it is more efficient, he adds, for the final decision to be made by the Chamber of Engineers, which licenses engineers.
He also explained what “Vučić’s hill movement of 0.1 millimeter” means.
“0.1 millimeter is a warning movement. The measurements being taken indicate that the hill is still moving. Until there is complete control, this must come with an explanation, i.e., a statement regarding its position as being under special control, etc. These movements on landslides are delicate; you never know when the movement will be sudden,” the N1 interlocutor stressed.
The opening of the Munjino Brdo tunnel, without the automatic monitoring that was stipulated by regulations, is now enabled by an amended government decree adopted on June 21, but with 24-hour duty – from firefighters to police and emergency services.
“I, as the most responsible, claim that it is safe,” stated Zoran Drobnjak, director of Roads of Serbia.
However, there are certain problems concerning the tunnel itself.
“There is an entire process of terrain investigation before the project is drafted… There must be a conceptual design, a feasibility study… Procedurally, when starting the analysis of terrain conditions, geologists first review all maps, all documents. There are geological maps, excerpts from them; that should tell us what kind of terrain it is… On slopes above basins, like the Požega basin, landslide zones, floods, torrents appear, and sometimes dormant landslides form,” says the geologist, stating that this could pose a danger.
MORE TOPICS:
VUČIĆ ON STUDENTS: “Times come when all the social dregs, the sludge, all the worst in a society surfaces”
TEXAS ON EDGE: These are the Girls Missing from the Camp During Floods, Search Continues! (PHOTOS)