In question with building of the China-Belarus Industrial Park the main mistake done by the local community was the inability to create one common structure that would represent their interests.
This opinion shared in the talk with the EuroBelarus Information Service Mikhail Pashkevich, who is actively involved in the issue of building an industrial park in Smaliavichy region.
From April 2 to April 16 public hearings of the architectural project “General plan of the China-Belarus Industrial Park” (CBIP) are going on. The materials about the project can be found at the website of Smaliavichy district executive committee. On April 17 a meeting between the organizer and the developer of the general plan with the public will take place in Smaliavichy community center.
Mikhail Pashkevich noted that the decision to build the park has already been taken and for the moment the question is only whether the local community will be able to protect their own interests to the maximum.
He emphasized that the local community has already missed an important opportunity to close the ranks by registering a united village association. “Now the authorities have a possibility to bring the discussion down to the so-called “approved dialog”, as there are lots of political players with absolutely different stance: someone fights for their rights of ownership, someone talks about the ecology, but there is no consolidated position”, - stated Mikhail Pashkevich with regret.
He found it hard to assess the possibility to work out such position during the public hearings: “It is hard for me to say whether the possibility of consolidation is already missed. But of course, the local community made a great failure. And none of the third-party organizations – neither “Tell the Truth!” campaign, nor anyone else will be a good substitution to the locals on that territory”.
In a situation like that it is very important to take thorough examination into the project details, noted Mikhail Pashkevich. And it is impossible without the expert judgment of the ecologists, land development specialists as well as expert for the other spheres.
“As even if we start from the mechanism of public hearings, each argument should be supported with the special documents, not emotions”, - highlighted the representative of “Tell the Truth!” campaign.
“If we manage to give a well-reasoned proof, than the dialog can be established. However, if the specialists don’t enter this dialog, the entire thing will end up in a social clamor”, - Mikhail Pashkevich made his forecast.
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