Commenting on the report on a UNESCO-ICOMOS reactive monitoring mission, conducted from 27 October to 1 November, Mayor Vlahusic said on Tuesday that the mission has concluded that the project on the Srdj Plateau would not negatively affect the cultural heritage.
"The Mission concluded that, due to its setting, the project is to be considered strictly from the point of view of its impact on the property and its Outstanding Universal Value. On this basis, the HIA (heritage impact assessment) demonstrates that the proposal as currently defined will have minimal direct impact and recommended that, from the strict criteria of the inscription, the impact on the property is acceptable," according to the report available both in Croatian and English.
The Dubrovnik mayor today recalled that a referendum launched by opponents of the project in the spring of 2013 failed.
"Imagine now what would have happened if we had turned down the proposal for the project at the referendum, citing its negative impact on heritage," Vlahusic said.
In April 2013, the residents of Dubrovnik voted at the referendum to show whether they supported or were against the proposed construction of a golf course and villas and hotels on the plateau of Srdj Hill, but their turnout did not pass the threshold of 50%, as required for the referendum to be considered valid. Only 31.5% of a total of 38,007 eligible voters appeared at polling stations. Of those 11,977 residents who went to the polls, 10,051 voted against the project and 1,846 voted for it, while 77 ballots were invalid, according to the commission.
Upon the announcement of the outcome of the referendum, Mrs. Maja Brinar Frenkel, the wife of Mr. Aaron Frenkel, the Israeli investor in this project, said that the data on the turnout showed that residents of Dubrovnik found the project acceptable and that they had opted for it.
The Old City of Dubrovnik was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1979.
ICOMOS is the International Council on Monuments and Sites, a professional association that works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage.