Istria Under Investigation: Sinkhole Near Svetvinčenat Served as Illegal Dump for 30 Years
Residents and a member of parliament reported the case to the State Inspectorate; the mayor claims the municipal inspector only acts on complaints.
Residents and a member of parliament reported the case to the State Inspectorate; the mayor claims the municipal inspector only acts on complaints.
In the business zone of the Municipality of Svetvinčenat, according to residents, a natural sinkhole has been used for years for the uncontrolled disposal of various, including hazardous, waste. The case was reported to the State Inspectorate on Tuesday, which immediately announced an environmental inspection.
Details from the field were presented by Dušica Radojčić, president of the Croatian Parliament's Committee on Environmental Protection and Nature, who also filed the report. "What can be seen at the edges of the remaining hole is all kinds of waste, construction waste, concrete plant waste that has hardened on the surface, furniture, white goods, asbestos, and more," Radojčić warned.
Dean Perković, the mayor of Svetvinčenat, confirmed he is aware of the problem but emphasized that municipal services do not act preventively. "We have hundreds of such situations. In Istria, thousands of buildings have been constructed, where did all that waste go? We don't go around the municipality looking for faults. The municipal inspector acts on received complaints," Perković said.
The sinkhole is located on private land, and the plots were divided among entrepreneurs back in the 1990s. The municipality says it is still trying to resolve the complex property-legal relations. A local entrepreneur involved in construction transport, who owns the majority share of the land, stated he is aware that waste is being dumped on his property but claims he does not know who is responsible. Furthermore, he said that a few days ago, to prevent new waste dumping, he placed large stone blocks on the road leading to the plot.
Vinko Peršić, the son of the co-owner of the plot where the sinkhole is located, contacted the mayor for help. "I thought someone would deal with it, so I called the mayor to see what's going on. He said waste has been dumped there for 30 years, and even our relative, a former mayor, sold his share," Peršić recounted.
Whether anyone will be held accountable for decades of pollution should be determined by the inspection that the State Inspectorate has confirmed.
