Veles Green Coalition Demands Relocation of the Smelter

MIA

21 January 2008

Last Thursday, January 17, representatives of the civic organizations from Veles, united in the Green Coalition, met with the members of Municipal Council and demanded accelerated activities on their activities to change the General Urban Plan and relocated the Lead and Zinc Smelter.

Noting the information on the possible restart of operations at the Smelter, Nenad Kocic from the coalition said that the associations don�t oppose the economic prosperity of the municipality, but that it should not reflect on the citizens� health.

- Even today, five years after the Smelter closed, the citizens of Veles still feel the consequences, said Kocic. Over 90 percent of the citizens of Veles believe that the best solution would be to move the Smelter 18 km to the south, near the Fertilizer Factory.

Dimce Velev, also from the Coalition, filed an initiative to the Government to dedicate Budget funds for the dislocation project and added that the Government should compensate the citizens for the damage to their health created during the 30 years of work of the Smelter.

Angelce Gusev, the Coalition member, announced public protests in front of the Smelter, to prevent the eventual restart of production at the facility.