"Tvrdjava" ecological movement will call for civil disobedience due to the construction of a refinery in Smederevo

"Tvrdjava" ecological movement from Smederevo has announced that it will call for civil disobedience due to the signed agreement on the construction of a refinery in this city, which would further worsen the already bad air quality.

- Smederevo already belongs to the cities with the third, worst category of air quality, which is defined as excessively polluted. Industry is one of the main culprits for such air, and the health of citizens is at risk. We believe that in such circumstances, the construction of a new industrial complex, which would cover 110 hectares, and in which oil would be processed and produced, would be disastrous for the health of the citizens of Smederevo - members of "Tvrdjava" say.

They emphasize that the land on which the construction of the oil refinery is planned is next to the Danube itself, so the international river would also be endangered, and the entire complex would be located only two kilometers from downtown Smederevo.

- Dirty industry is not the future we want for our city, because we already have a Chinese iron factory that poisons the citizens of Smederevo daily and violates the laws of the Republic of Serbia. As citizens of Smederevo, we have no choice but to prevent the planned refinery project, because we deeply believe that it is disastrous for the City of Smederevo and all its residents. In order to do this, we will call on citizens to civil disobedience and all other legal forms of struggle, in order to prevent the construction of a new refinery - they added.

"Tvrdjava" reminds the public that, back in 2010, a similar attempt was made to build an oil refinery in Smederevo, but that project was rejected in a local referendum where 72.18% of citizens voted against the construction of the refinery, and only 27.82% voted for it.

- The citizens of Smederevo do not want an oil refinery and they will show that in the coming period, and we call on the local government to reconsider whether it wants to embark on such a project, because it will be directly responsible for all the consequences - they say in this movement.

This topic was once again relevant in 2021. At that time, the Chinese partner and the EUR 2.6 billion project were also mentioned.

The Minister of Mining and Energy, Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic, has signed the framework agreement on the construction of a plant for the processing of oil and oil derivatives in Smederevo between the Government of Serbia and China Energy International Group, with a capacity of up to 100,000 barrels per day, and the total value of this investment is EUR 2 .4 billion.

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

HBIS GROUP Iron & Steel d.o.o. Beograd

Pokret tvrđava Smederevo

Ministry of Mining and Energy

Ecological Movement "Tvrdjava" Smederevo

HBIS

Zelezara Smederevo

Ironworks smederevo

China Energy International Group

Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic

construction of a refinery in Smederevo