Representatives of the architects' society in Dubrovnik on Friday urged the local council to reduce the volume of the planned construction on the plateau of Srdj hill overlooking that southern Croatian Adriatic resort, and they also called for a ban on providing funds from the city budget for infrastructure not covered by the plan for the Srdj sports centre.
The society's president Marija Kojakovic warned against a plan to build housing compounds 300,000 square metres large and urged the city authorities to make sure that some of the plateau would remain for public use.
The architects held a news conference ahead of a city assembly session, set for 30 July, when councillors are expected to decide on the plans for the Srdj Plateau.
Today also, representatives of the civil society action "Srdj is Ours" said that they would insist on being allowed to attend the council's session so that they could monitor the course of the meeting which would discuss the issue of Srdj.
Construction of a golf park on Srdj Hill has caused controversy over the past few years and the said civil action group objected to the project and initiated the collection of signatures for the referendum. The referendum, held on 28 April, failed because only 31.5 per cent of eligible voters turned out for the vote. Under the law, 50 per cent plus one voter must vote in a referendum in order for it to be successful.
However, the opponents of the Srdj golf plan believe that decision-makers should take into account that of those 11,977 residents who went to the polls, 10,051 voted against the project.
The main arguments of those opponents are that the excessive construction on the plateau would damage the environment and that the project is not in the interest of Dubrovnik residents but only to the favour of the private investor.
