Environmentalists are unhappy with the project of the Linglong tire plant in Serbia

The Linglong tire plant in Zrenjanin, an estimated €800 million project, remains the subject of ongoing disputes between local authorities and environmentalists, who claim that the project was adopted with gross violations.

According to the environmental group of the Renewable Energy and Environmental Regulation Institute (RERI), the city of Zrenjanin “illegally prevented” people from participating in public hearings on the assessment of the company's environmental impact.

According to Tamara Bosić, one of the RERI project employees, residents of the city tried to express their opinion on the environmental aspects of the creation of the Linglong tire production complex and auxiliary infrastructure, but the security and police officers did not allow 50 people who were ready to discuss the project to visit public consultations in the Zrenyanin meeting room.

The official reason for the refusal to attend public hearings was restrictions on mass events due to the Covid-19 pandemic: a maximum of 30 people could be in the meeting room, but as many as 18 representatives of Linglong came to the hearings.

“However, according to Serbian law, if the conditions for safe public hearings are not met, the state authorities should postpone discussions on projects until all mandatory legal procedures have been completed,” said Tamara Bosic. She stressed that in the case of large commercial projects, such as the construction of a tire plant, the city government was required to postpone public consultation or complete all procedures.

The Belgrade-based RERI group had already complained to the authorities about Linglong's granting of permits to build a plant in Zrenjanin, even before the presentation of studies on the impact of production on the environment of the region.