Kostadinovska-Stojchevska: If there are no Struga funds, we will find an expert team to map illegal constructions
The Minister of Culture Bisera Kostadinovska-Stojcevska says that if the Municipality of Struga does not have the facilities or funds, it can be helped with an expert team that will map illegal constructions.
We can help in Struga, if they don't have facilities or funds. We will find an expert team to map the illegal constructions. If they do not respond to the latest borrowing from the Government, we have a way to send someone there to map the illegally built facilities, said Kostadinovska-Stojchevska in Sitel news.
He added that taking away the municipality's powers is not simple, but it is one of the options if the Government's requests are not followed.
If someone does not act, we will form our own expert team, we will ask for foreign help if necessary and we will do everything we can to preserve the status we have in UNESCO, says Kostadinovska-Stojchevska.
According to her, it will not be the end of the world if we are put on the list of heritage in danger, but it will mean greater controls and referral to UNESCO every year.
UNESCO's first reactive mission came to Zemajva in 2017, when excessive derogation of the characteristics of the Ohrid region was noticed. There has been a vacuum for seven years, when the management plan for the Ohrid region was not acted upon at all. Now we are seeing the consequences of that, says Kostadinovska-Stojchevska.
In the context of that, he added that the Law on the management of the Ohrid region was adopted in 2010, but no measures were taken until 2017, which jeopardized the UNESCO status.
The process for fulfilling the recommendations from UNESCO for the protection of the Ohrid region is a process that cannot be stopped. We cannot say that we are satisfied and stop there. This process will continue even after the fulfillment of 19 recommendations, noted Kostadinovska-Stojchevska.
The minister believes that the whole country should be involved in the process of preserving the status of protected heritage in UNESCO, because it is not a process that can be done by one ministry, one municipality or one agency.
