The "Save Borzhava" community has expressed serious concerns about the construction of the Yanukovych Zelenskyy resort.
The "Save Borzhava" community has published an open statement expressing serious concerns about the construction of mega-resorts "in ecologically sensitive areas such as Borzhava and Svydovets."
The "Save Borzhava" community expressed serious concerns about the construction of the Yanukovych-Zelensky resort
POSITION OF THE "SAVE BORZHAVA" COMMUNITY REGARDING REPORTS ON THE PLANNED CONSTRUCTION OF A MEGA-RESORT IN BORZHAVA
We are not against the development of winter sports, however, gigantism and the desire to build excessively large projects in ecologically sensitive areas such as Borzhava and Svydovets raise many questions about the negative impacts of such projects, including deforestation, depletion of local water resources, and increased flooding.
Plans for the construction of a huge ski center in Borzhava for the Olympic Games date back to the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych and the chairmanship of Vladyslav Kaskiv in the State Investment Project (yes, the same one who is now a deputy of the Zakarpattia Regional Council).
In 2016, Kaskiv was declared wanted by the Police, investigations were conducted into the embezzlement of state funds, he himself was hiding in Panama, from where he was extradited at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office, but was released after posting bail of 600 thousand dollars.
Last year, a meeting was held in President Zelensky's office regarding the planned construction of a ski resort in Borzhava.
The same businessman, Gernot Leitner, who previously did this for Yanukovych and for Russia in Sochi in 2014, is supposed to help Zelensky prepare for the Olympic Games.
"The experience of major sports competitions in Ukraine, including Euro 2012, showed that in addition to new infrastructure, it also leaves debts for the budget. The history of recent Olympics shows that such competitions require large funding, and in corruptly risky countries such as Ukraine, preparation for the games can become an opportunity for abuse. No one manages to prepare all the infrastructure at the expense of investors, not the state," states the article "Putin, Yanukovych and Zelensky: how the Olympic Games unite them."
It was recently announced that the huge ski resort will begin construction this year. At the same time, there were no announcements regarding the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and environmental impact assessment (EIA) of this project, although the implementation of these procedures is a legal requirement that precedes their implementation.
The opacity of plans for the construction of huge resorts in both Svydovets and Borzhava, the lack of discussions with the public and the scientific community, creates the impression that these plans are a standard way to make money on "mega-construction" through firms close to Ukrainian oligarchs, siphoning money from the budget. If this is indeed the case, it is very doubtful that these projects will take into account the interests of local communities and the priority of preserving unique mountain landscapes.
The authorities only declare openness and transparency, and we expect concrete visible actions in this direction, namely - the publication of schemes and plans for the construction of mega-resorts, so that specialists and the public in general can familiarize themselves with the ideas of these projects.
We share the opinion that it is better to build several smaller ski lifts in different locations than to engage in gigantism.
Due to climate change, there is a tendency to reduce the number of days per year with snow cover, which means that artificial snowmaking will be necessary at ski resorts. The production of artificial snow requires huge volumes of water, which, ultimately, can deplete local water resources. Chemicals used for artificial snowmaking, after it melts, enter local surface water bodies and lead to eutrophication (simply put - water blooming).
We remind you that this year an expert from the Bern Convention is to study the situation regarding the threat to the preservation of the natural value of Polonyna Borzhava, which is one of the territories of the pan-European ecological network (Emerald Network). The timing of the expert's study of the case will be known after the spring meeting of the Bureau of the Bern Convention, which will take place on April 14-15.
We will continue to monitor reports regarding the plans for the construction of a mega-resort in Borzhava and will inform the Secretariat of the Bern Convention about the state of compliance with national legislation regarding the need for SEA and EIA of such projects, as well as ensuring the preservation of Borzhava's nature in accordance with the provisions of the Association Agreement with the EU (2014).