Blagaj locals in shock: Local powerful figures want to destroy pristine Bunica and build weekend houses next to it

Locals of the settlement Malo Polje near Blagaj are in shock after construction machines have been destroying the banks of the Bunica river for days, turning it into a plateau where weekend houses will most likely be built, writes the BiH news agency Patria.
Bunica is the only river in Bosnia and Herzegovina into which no sewage flows, which is why the river water is drinkable, and the entire landscape has been declared one of the most beautiful natural landscapes in Herzegovina.

Experts have also assessed that Bunica water is medicinal because it contains high concentrations of iodine.

The beauty of this landscape has been rapidly disappearing under heavy machinery in recent days. The locals do not know much about the whole case, except that the construction company MIP is preparing the land for construction.

Narrowed riverbed, plateau between the bank and the road prepared for building weekend houses

The locals have sent a warning letter to the construction inspection, the City of Mostar, the mayor... and to a number of other addresses.

Emir Bijelić, one of the locals from Malo Polje, told the Patria agency that MIP workers had moved the local road to a nearby hill, while they had turned the plateau between the road and the river, up to 400 meters long, into a plateau where buildings will be constructed.

- Not only did they move the road, thus creating a plateau for construction, but they also further widened the plateau, thereby narrowing the riverbed of Bunica. This will certainly lead to even greater floods of the local settlement, as well as the cemetery where the bones of our deceased are buried, which has also been flooded before – says Bijelić.

- Several local businessmen are involved in this whole crime, who, with the help of people from SDA in Mostar and their partners, are trying to get their hands on these valuable locations. Some of our people from Malo Polje have also been paid to calm down the locals, but they have not succeeded. The locals of Malo Polje will not allow the destruction of Bunica; our generations grew up with it, and we want our children to grow up with it too – added Bijelić.

Bunica has flooded the local settlement before, and locals fear that after the river is narrowed, the floods will be much more dangerous

About a hundred locals from Malo Polje have so far managed to stop further work by construction machines. They patrol the riverbank every half hour and expect the inspection to soon completely prohibit any work at this location, writes Patria.