Ohrid SOS Initiative claims that the Municipality of Ohrid approved the project “Mediterranean beach on Lagadin” in a very scandalous and illegal manner, disguised as placing urban equipment.

The public’s resistance forced the Municipality of Ohrid in such a treacherous manner to split into pieces the former project on having a sea beach on the lake, and to approve it perfidiously and illegally as posting urban equipment. Through this procedure the necessary building permits are avoided, along with the water management permit, which is pure manipulation of the law and unlawful avoidance of public participation.

OHRID SOS are asking: “Does the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning know about all of this, is it behind this and does it support it?”

Furthermore, the activists of this initiative are reminding the local authorities that “last year during peak season there was a collector spill on the Lagadin beach that caused a terrible stomach virus among a vast number of domestic and foreign tourists. And this happens every year.

In order to realize the Project “Sea beach on the lake”, hundreds of meters of reed need to be cut, an area where swans nest (the symbol of Ohrid), and where carp spawn. Only 3 pairs of swans nest on an area of 100 meters! Destroying the reed may contribute to the swans forever to leave the lake as an ecosystem – warn Ohrid environmentalists.

Building platforms on the lake, as the local authorities plan to, means that the local (endemic) flora and fauna will certainly be disrupted and destroyed, that waste and hazardous substances will increase into the lake, and that the landscape will also be permanently damaged.