Marijana Petković, activist and local resident Upper Nedeljica, says for "Vreme" that the correct claims in the public about Fr expropriation in atar, obviously for construction purposes gas pipeline which was previously planned in a package with a lithium mine in that village.
"They are trying to prepare the infrastructure in a completely illegal way. Since there is a problem with the mine, they are now trying to move around," says Petković.
She claims that the connection between the gas pipeline, road, railway and "Jadar" project it is not something that the locals just assume, but that such infrastructure is mentioned in the planning documents.
"The spatial plan states that the state of Serbia is obliged to Rio Tinto, i.e. Rio Savi, build a gas pipeline, road, railway, pipeline, power grid - complete infrastructure up to the mine. Now it turns out that this is correct, because everything goes according to the elevations written in the spatial plan," says Petković.
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What's happening?
Lawyer Luka Đorđević previously told "Danas" that a huge number of expropriation procedures are being carried out in Gornji and Donji Nedeljice, and this is due to the construction of the Valjevo-Loznica gas pipeline, whose project is in charge Srbijagas.
As he says, the machines appeared in the fields of Nedeljica about a month and a half ago, which disturbed the locals, especially since, as he claims, the attempts to enter the fields began before the expropriation decisions reached the owners.
The Rio Sava company denied that they were aware of the activities in Gornji and Donji Nedeljice. As they stated in their answer to "Danas", if the expropriation is happening, it has nothing to do with the "Jadar" project, which has been inactive since November last year.
Photo: N1Although it was announced in November 2025 that Rio Tinto was putting the project under "care and maintenance" mode, the locals believe that the government has not given up on the project.
"They reached Nedeljice, but they won't be able to go any further"
There are currently no machines in Gornji Nedeljice itself, because the locals prevented the continuation of the work. "They reached Nedeljica, but they will not be able to go any further," points out Marijana Petković.
Lawyer Đorđević stated that the law relating to line infrastructure facilities of special importance for Serbia is applied in those proceedings, but he points out that this law cannot be applied to gas pipelines, because gas infrastructure falls under other regulations and the Law on Expropriation.
Marijana Petković says that the locals must protect their plots both physically and legally. "It's a state issue. They can't enter private plots without a solution, they don't have the necessary documentation to do anything. People can sue them for trespassing, but since we're a cowboy state, everyone here seems to think they can invade wherever they want," she points out.
Petkovic adds that the locals do not believe that the project has really been stopped. "They are there, we constantly take care and monitor what they are doing. They supposedly maintain the field, extract wells, close pipes, but we are constantly on the lookout. They have not left here," she states.
Over 60 percent of citizens are against the mine
When asked if they expect the support of the citizens, Petković replies that it all boils down to whether the citizens of Serbia believe that the lithium mine still needs to be fought, and as he says, SNS voters are also against such a project. This is also confirmed by the New Serbian Political Thought survey from March 2025, when 63,5 percent of citizens said they did not support the opening of the mine.
The "Jadar" project has been one of the most controversial political, economic and environmental topics in Serbia for years. After mass protests, the government formally scrapped the spatial plan for the project in 2022, but in the meantime, legal and political debates continued over whether the project was actually stopped or just temporarily removed from public focus.
Although it was announced in November 2025 that Rio Tinto was putting the project into "care and maintenance" mode, the locals believe that the government has not given up on the project and that a series of actions, such as the construction of a gas pipeline or railway, prove this.
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