The country must have disciplined and mighty armed forces and in order to be so, Armed Forces of Montenegro must have exercise polygon. After the analyses and examination of the terrain of Montenegro carried out from the air and the land, a specific land room has been found. It’s state-owned and it would be used as a polygon for the exercises of military units. It’s on the eastern side of Sinjajevina mountain, writes “Dnevne Novine”.
However, residents of the villages at the bottom of Sinjajevina disagree with the Government’s intention of setting up the polygon right there. They announced rallies.
Construction of the polygon would, as they argue, damage the mountain where stock-farmers have been herding their cattle from May to September for 140 years. Also, they are afraid of environment pollution.
On the other side, representatives of the Ministry of Defense assure that the polygon is going to be used for shootings, two times a year maximum, in the period when the mountain pastries aren’t used.
In other months, they would be doing training without shooting. Their counterargument is that the benefits for the citizens would me multiple – from infrastructure construction and terrain organization to water supply management.
“One of the key requirements for the execution of exercises and development of the abilities of the Armed Forces is the polygon for the collective training and exercises. That poses a problem for the Armed Forces of Montenegro. During the process of analyses and examination that lasted for several years, we have considered various factors referring to the terrain accessibility, safety conditions, existing infrastructure and so on. Location that meets all the aforementioned requirements and which is appropriate for the purposes of the training and shooting exercises, has been found on the eastern side of the Sinjajevina mountain”, says Aleksandar Pantović, Chief of Staff of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Montenegro.
It is important to note that the army would do training and shooting exercises for a month in one year.
“The polygon is pretty far from the settlements, and the terrain itself provides all the necessary requirements for the maneuver of units. Also, the existing road infrastructure can be rehabilitated very soon since the location was used earlier by the Yugoslav People’s Army. Municipalities and the population in this region will benefit from the polygon too as the Army is going to engage its capacities in the reconstruction and maintenance of roads”, explains Colonel Pantović.
In order to make the entire process as transparent as possible, Ministry of Defense has addressed to the institutions dealing with the environment issues, although provisions of the Law on the Environmental Impact Assessment do not apply on the projects intended for the purposes of defense.
Commenting on the disagreement of some citizens, Mr Pantovič says that differing views on the issues of general importance are natural.
However, there’s one think we all have to agree on – stability, safety and economic development are key factors in the functioning of every country.
“We have to be aware that safety is not the category that is automatically guaranteed. In order for the safety and defense institutions to fulfill their tasks, they must acquire skills that meet the required standards”, says Mr Pantović.
One of the three missions of the Armed Forces of Montenegro is providing assistance to civil institutions. In the past period, they have had several situations where they had to engage all the available capacities in the recovery of the consequences of natural disasters, floods, fires…
“The society as a whole will benefit from the development of Army’s abilities since we well be ready to respond to modern challenges effectively and promptly. We appreciate the beauty and natural potentials and the thought that the presence of the armed forces will hinder the environment is completely groundless”, says Mr Pantović.
As an engineer officer, Mr Pantović had the opportunity to work in many areas of Montenegro. Together with his soldiers, they would activate dozens of tons of explosives in the most inaccessible locations. He can’t remember of any objection made in relation to the harmful effects of explosives.
Minister of Defense, Predrag Bošković, said that the polygon wouldn’t be used for the construction of NATO base or destruction of munitions of other armament. Biodiversity and hydro potentials won’t be destroyed.
