Green Forum: 5C Corridor is Unnecessary, Expensive and Detrimental to the Environment

According to the study of the Corridor 5C Project, a 350 million Eur international highway connecting Budapest, Osijek, Sarajevo and the Adriatic port of Ploce, published yesterday by the Green Forum, Croatian environmental NGO network, this is an unnecessary project, with negative effects on the environment and will not bring the expected economic and development benefits. This study is a part of the larger analysis of the European transport corridors prepared by the CEE Bankwatch. The study shows that the expected economic growth and development of this project are result of well-wishing that is not based in reality, rather than a fundamental analysis of project feasibility. The projected traffic frequency do not justify the investment into a highway on that sector of the 5C corridor, while the part of the highway north of Osijek will have destructive effect on Drava River marshland, the natural habitat of several protected animal species. Full 38% of the state transportation budget is spent on highways, while 68% of the budget goes on all types of roads, which is almost double the 40%, as planned in the National Strategy for Development of Transportation, adopted in 1999. "The Vc Corridor highway is just another example of the defective Strategy”, says Ivan Posinjak, Coordinator of Zelena Akcija’s transportation sector. "The Government (of Croatia) has to give up its belief that the huge highway construction projects will bring economic growth to Croatia and concentrate on increased economic and environmental efficiency of transport. The rising oil-prices and the stricter glass-house gasses emission criteria force Croatia to redirect its resources to the transportation means with higher energy efficiency, such as the railways”, adds Posinjak. The Green Forum demanded from the Government of Croatia to suspend the preparations for construction of the Vc Corridor highway until the traffic levels reach an annual average of 20,000 vehicles daily, and until the B&H and Hungarian sections reach the final stage of construction. It also demands that the route through the Drava Marshes is abandoned and another route is planned that will connect the highway to the Osijek round-about road. Green Forum demands from the international financial institutions and the EU to stop all funding for the Project.