ZAGREB, December 5, 2019 – Three civil society associations said on Thursday that they would stage a protest rally against the proposed general urban development plan outside the City Hall on Monday, and they reiterated their criticism of the plan.
Bernard Ivčić of the Green Action NGO said that regardless of the fact that Mayor Milan Bandić had decided to remove this topic from the agenda of the city assembly meeting scheduled for Monday, the associations would hold the protest on Monday morning.
Ivčić and activist Iva Marčetić accused Bandić of catering for investors’ interests which were contrary to the development of the city and its residents’ interests.
“As ordinary citizens are drowning in waste and waste disposal costs are going up, the most valuable parts of the city are being reserved for special groups of investors to build skyscrapers and flats,” said Ivčić.
Several associations, city planners and architects, as well as opposition members of the Zagreb City Council and most councils of the Zagreb city neighbourhoods are opposed to amendments to the Zagreb development plan which would pave the way for the so-called Manhattan project on the banks of the River Sava.
On Wednesday, Mayor Bandić said that by shifting the debate on the general urban development plan (GUP) to a special City Assembly meeting scheduled for February 6 he wanted to trump the aces of those accusing him of trying to hastily push the document through.
Although the GUP should have been debated under fast-track procedure on December 9, along with a revised budget for 2019 and a 2020 budget proposal, Bandić said that he and his associates had decided to dedicate one City Assembly meeting solely to the GUP.
“If we have waited for three or four years, then we can wait for another month and a half,” the mayor told a press conference. Bandić said he believed the opposition, too, would be satisfied with his decision because they wanted the proposal removed from the agenda of the December session.
The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) members of the City Assembly on Thursday welcomed Bandić’s decision to shift the debate on the general urban development plan to February 6.
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