Zagreb is Getting a Waste Management Center, Tomašević Announced a Power Plant

The Mayor of Zagreb Tomislav Tomašević stated on Wednesday that he will build a Waste Management Center (CGO) because he has the legitimacy and obligation to do so, as well as a power plant since the study showed that it is profitable to build one in Zagreb. In response to a journalist’s question about the opposition from the environmental protection organization Green Action regarding the announced construction of the power plant, Tomašević said that it is necessary to distinguish between the CGO and the power plant.

– The Waste Management Center is not a power plant – said Tomašević, emphasizing that such centers are being built in all Croatian counties.

The CGO in Resnik has received a location permit and will soon go to public procurement, he said, adding that the City is fulfilling its promise to close the Jakuševec landfill.

The center will, among other things, have a composting facility and sorting plant, as well as facilities for processing mixed waste and valuable raw materials. The remainder will be fuel from waste, which the City believes would be detrimental to depend on private companies and for it to be incinerated in private power plants.

– That is why we ordered a study that showed it is more profitable for the City of Zagreb to invest, either alone or with the state, in such a facility than to incinerate fuel from waste in a private power plant, wherever that private power plant may be – in Croatia, Austria, or I don’t know where – said Tomašević at a press conference.

He added that the only problem is the location because the City of Zagreb cannot choose it alone, as the power plant must be able to supply the heat produced from waste processing to the central heating system.

– Given that HEP-Toplinarstvo, which is a state company, has a concession, and since last week has also renewed its concession from the City Assembly, we cannot decide where the location of the power plant will be without cooperation with the state, that is, with HEP, but it is clear that we are going into this, that we are ready for it, and that we will do it – Tomašević stated.

Reflecting on the opposition from Green Action, of which he was once a member and president, Tomašević said that this organization also opposes the construction of the CGO in Resnik and has initiated lawsuits against the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s decision that the project is in accordance with environmental regulations.

– I ran for election with the promise that we will definitely build the CGO, that we will build it in Resnik. I won that election, I have the legitimacy and obligation to realize it. Likewise, before the election, I said that if the study shows that it is profitable for the City of Zagreb to invest in a power plant, then we will certainly do that. And that’s it – concluded Mayor Tomašević.

Korlaet: The Quarry in Podsused is Closed

The Deputy Mayor Luka Korlaet said that exploitation in the quarry in Podsused has ceased, that it is closed, and that remaining illegal structures are being removed.

According to him, city municipal inspectors issued three removal orders to the owners of dilapidated structures, but since the owners did not comply, the City has begun removal through authorized companies, and the cost will be charged to the owners.

The land is partly state-owned, partly privately owned, and one parcel belongs to the Parish of Podsused, said Korlaet. He emphasized that there will be no new constructions or activities at that location because, in an exploitation sense, that place is completed and closed.