The Center for Strategic Judicial Cases (CLS) announced that the Basic Court in Prishtina has approved the lawsuit that it filed together with the non-governmental organization “Active Citizens” and canceled the decision of the Municipality of Pristina for the “Adventure Park” project. The “Adventure Park” was planned to be built in the protected park of Germia, but with the last decision, the Foundation canceled the decision on the environmental permit for the realization of the project.
Previously, in 2021, the Supreme Court of Kosovo had decided to postpone the execution of the decision of the Municipality of Pristina regarding this project, until a final decision on this case. “CLS considers the decision of the Supreme Court on the suspension of the environmental permit of the ‘Adventure Park’ project and the last decision of the Basic Court to cancel the decision on the realization of this project to be a very important success. Such decisions confirm the illegality pursued by public bodies, the denial of the constitutional right of citizens to participate in environmental decision-making and the risk of degradation of nature from projects such as the ‘Adventure Park'”, GLS said through a press release.
The founder established that the Municipality of Pristina has mistakenly applied the legal basis for issuing the environmental permit for this project, namely it has invoked an administrative instruction for the granting of municipal environmental permits. However, such projects, such as the “Adventure Park”, according to CLS, are regulated by the Law on environmental impact assessment.
“The court has rightly assessed the arguments that the Municipality of Pristina, during the assessment and approval of the ‘Adventure Park’ Project, has violated the constitutional guarantees of citizens by denying them the right to participate in decisions related to the living environment where they live”. the announcement said. The “Adventure Park” was planned to include an area of about 70 acres and extend from Butovci towards the park of Germia. When it was presented as a project, the Municipality of Pristina had said that the park would be built using special methods that would avoid damaging the trees in Germi.
