Zdrava kotlina submits 240 objections against state spatial plan to 2040, warns of lasting soil damage
The civic group delivered 240 objections totaling over 450 pages and says planned southeastern mines could irreversibly harm first‑category farmland.
Citizen initiative Zdrava kotlina has submitted 240 formal objections to North Macedonia’s draft spatial plan to 2040, delivering more than 450 pages of reasoning and supporting evidence, the group announced. The objections target proposed mining projects in the country’s southeast and warn of long-term damage to fertile agricultural land.
What the initiative wants
Zdrava kotlina asked authorities to take the remarks into account during the plan’s review, saying the scale of their submission reflects detailed technical and legal concerns. The initiative says the planned mines, including proposals around the Ilovica area, could contaminate first-category farmland across large tracts of land.
Ilija Daov, speaking for the activists, stressed the economic and environmental imbalance the group sees between potential profits for concessionaires and the value of agricultural land. “Hundreds of available thousands of hectares, first-category land. Tell me any lump-sum price. And for the hundreds of thousands of years that will be poisoned by wastes of sulfates, sulfides, cyanides, thiocyanates, which are used for the flotation of that ore for thousands of years. Multiply by the hectare I told you. Practically there is no comparison with two and a half percent that the concessionaires will take,” he said.
Parallel to filing objections with state institutions, the environmental activists have been meeting with local communities. They have already held discussions with residents of Radovo in Bosilovo Municipality to explain the possible risks from opening the Ilovica mine.
“We must be united; nothing else will save us. Otherwise, as I said before, if we are united whoever is in power will not be able to open the mine. Against the people nobody can. Those people who are in power are elected by us, therefore they must listen to the voice of the people,” said Mitko Gjorgiev at a meeting in Radovo.
The initiative announced plans to visit other settlements in the municipality in the coming weeks to inform residents about the planned spatial solutions and the possible consequences for the environment and agriculture.
Photo: press material from the event
