02 August 2008, 23:46
A highway being built in Adygeya within world natural heritage
The non-government environment protection center "NABU-Kavkaz" in Adygeya has registered large-scale construction of a highway on the territory of the World Natural Heritage (WNH). This has been revealed in the course of a regular public environmental inspection conducted by the organization on July 26-29.
Mikhail Plotnikov, head of the organization, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that ecologists examined the region of the so-called "Armenian Shelter" located in the upper reaches of the river Armianka and adjoining the Stone Sea ridge. This region is part of the protected zone of the Caucasian nature reserve which was included into the WNH "Western Caucasus" in 1999.
The ecologist notes that earlier they knew about the construction of a road from Guzeriple to "Guerrilla Glade" which is in the direct proximity of the WNH boundaries. Work is being actively carried out now. However, this was not enough and the builders intend build the road inside the especially protected natural zone with an international status.
According to the ecologist, tourists may see felled trees lying disorderly on the side of the road. "Beautiful silver fir-trees against the background of majestic rocks are cut by an ugly scar of the trees felled for the highway construction," he said. "There is an impression that the work is being done in haste, while the environmental legislation violations is not heavily publicized ".
According to ecologists, the highway is built by the ООО "Autobun".
Author: Aslan Shazzo, CK correspondent