During the month of October, MASA participated in several activities related to the invitation issued by the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Serbia for the sale of the capital of the Institute for Water Management "Jaroslav Černi" AD, which the Right to Water initiative considers to be an unacceptable move considering the significance and importance of the independence of such an institution for the future of water quality, natural resources and health protection of the population of Serbia.
One of the activities referred to the appeal of the Right to Water organization to the professional and academic public to oppose privatization and stand up in defense of the public interest, water quality and natural resources for the sustainable future of the public health of the population of Serbia.
We invite you to join us to raise our voices together and appeal against this harmful process, for the benefit of the whole society.
One of the activities referred to the appeal of the Right to Water organization to the professional and academic public to oppose privatization and stand up in defense of the public interest, water quality and natural resources for the sustainable future of the public health of the population of Serbia.
We invite you to join us to raise our voices together and appeal against this harmful process, for the benefit of the whole society.
Urgently stop the privatization of the Jaroslav Černy Institute!
Quality scientific analyzes and professional solutions in the field of water management are of inestimable importance for the whole society, bearing in mind the growing danger of natural phenomena, climate change (drought and floods) and human negligence (water, air and soil pollution). Combined with uncontrolled exploitation, illegal privatizations, and theft of water and other natural resources, these dangers can cause disaster.
A high percentage of water supply systems in Serbia have water that does not meet drinking standards, more than a third of water is lost in the distribution network, and a high percentage of the population, especially in suburban and rural areas, does not have access to healthy drinking water at all. Urban and industrial waste water without purification pollutes waterways. In terms of the degree and quality of wastewater treatment, Serbia is at the bottom in Europe, while at the same time the national top, for future wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) conditions the application of obsolete, dirty technologies and the hiring of a well-known contractor for the execution of most of these works.
A prerequisite for the preservation and sustainable management of water assets with respect for human rights in that area are professional organizations with a proven reputation, professional integrity, business ethics, as well as independent experts who offer professionally correct and sustainable solutions. They should work impartially, in conditions without pressure and without behind-the-scenes interference, non-transparent criteria and other elements of corruption on a wider scale. Unfortunately, we are witnessing that the recently submitted expert opinions of the leading scientific institutions about the projects that are currently being worked on are being ignored.
A large number of the most important hydrotechnical facilities and water management systems in the former Yugoslavia, as well as in a large number of countries in the world, were built in the previous decades with the help of experts from the "Jaroslav Černi" Institute (IJČ) in cooperation with leading scientific institutions and recognized experts in the country.
In the last few years, we have witnessed a drastic decline in the quality of infrastructure systems, the quality of the environment, especially water and air. This is largely caused by the collapse of the independence and professional level of the leading planning and design institutions and organizations, which are forced to work according to dictates, based on professionally unconfirmed criteria. State-funded jobs are awarded only to "eligible" or anonymous newly formed organizations, which replace vague qualifications with a high degree of servility. Such a fate, in the last few years, has not escaped even the IJČ, which recently approved several expertly unacceptable solutions, an example of which is the construction at the protected Maki source of drinking water.
Several projects of dubious purpose are currently being worked on at IJČ. An example is the recycling of the waste water treatment plant (WWTP) project for Belgrade in Veliki Selo, based on obsolete, outdated and overpriced, dirty technology. Instead of working with modern, ecologically superior, energy efficient, far cheaper, and for public health much better technologies, the decision makers non-transparently, illegally, took upon themselves the choice of technologies, which is the optimization job of professional designers and is not the same for all cities. Also, by directly imposing one contractor, the citizens of Serbia will have to pay back many times larger amounts of loans through public budgets. The initial estimated value of the necessary investments in the sewage system and WWTP for all cities in Serbia by the expert group funded by the EU, has drastically increased, without the necessary expert analysis, so that it has already reached 4 to 5 times the amount. For the purposes of daily politics, this amount is further arbitrarily increased, so that "investments in ecology" sound as impressive as possible.
The initial price of the privatization of IJČ is very shocking. For the sake of comparison, about 250 million euros are planned to be allocated for the National Stadium (also in the area of the source of drinking water in Surčinsko polje), and the most important public scientific institute in the field of water management is offered for "sale" for 2.5 million euros (1% investments for the stadium).
We fear that this privatization, until recently one of the few remaining unbiased institutions, opens up space for IJČ to be forced to develop and sign projects and solutions that an unbiased profession with its own integrity and professional ethics would never accept under regular circumstances and legal procedures.
Privatization will not solve the accumulated problems of urban water infrastructure, water management, environment, or the IJČ itself, but will complicate them many times over. Instead of public interest, expert knowledge will be put to the function of private profit, apparently of a non-transparent owner, from whom even less well-known real decision-makers are hiding. This policy will further erode the integrity of the profession and threaten the right of all residents to healthy drinking water and the environment.
The people of Serbia do not deserve it and do not accept it. The stake is too high and dangerous in many ways for several generations to come. On the basis of the arguments presented above, we request that the privatization process of the Jaroslav Černi Institute be suspended and that the decision-makers in Serbia create the conditions for the institute to operate under regular market conditions in which investments in water/water management systems are realized in accordance with the real needs and economic possibilities of society. , and they spend with the respected rules of the profession and business ethics. In this way, the Institute should continue to work unhindered, for the benefit of the public good and the interests of the citizens of Serbia.
