No public discussion in Mahiliou

The construction of a new house in the Yubileiny suburb will take place despite the protests of the local dwellers.

On 31 January the dwellers gathered in the secondary school #31 to meet with state officials and discuss the acute issues connected with the construction of the multi-stored house.

The meeting was attended by about 80 people and five representatives of the executive committee and the building organization. The authorities agreed to hold a "public discussion" only after the people had addressed the Presidential Administration.

The people asked to transfer the house 30 meters away in order to preserve the small birch forest and prevent the overshadowing of the nearest houses.

The chief architect of the region Dzmitry Dudnichenka answered to them with the following: the forest is not a park, and the number of schoolchildren in the school is below the average one.

The civil activist Valadar Tsurpanau who was present at the meeting said that the "public discussion" looked much like a monologue of the state authorities.

"At the end of the meeting the officials stated that they met with the citizens as far as there were many protests against the construction of the house. They wanted to inform the people what would be built. As far as I understood, they had no intention to listen to the indignant people and make any concessions. It is very difficult to call it a public hearing," said Mr. Tsurpanau.

According to the authorities, the public hearings weren't conducted before the beginning of the construction works as far as the law allows not to do it in case the territory is included in the plan of the city development.

The first multi-stored building will be constructed in August 2013. Three more houses will be built after it on the territory of the forest, which consists of some 560 trees.