The hills near the village of Jucu, where Nokia built its new production facility, are the scene of the roughest real estate war in the area of Cluj. Hundreds of hectares of land were bought for almost nothing and are now estimated at 100 euro per square meter. Investors design huge residential areas in the expanding industrial zone. The entire county dreams of asphalt belts, detouring freeways and urban highways. But a butterfly, a simple butterfly, sheds another kind of light over the industrial, financial and political interests in the area.
Professor Laszlo Rakosy returned to Romania after a long program designed to save a species of endangered blue butterflies in Austria. Similar insects were found near Cluj, on the hills of Apahida, Jucu and Bontida. The professor dreams of opening a natural reservation, protected by the EU law.
The butterflies are not the only rare species in the area. A groundhog was found at Apahida and several rare plants were also identified near Jucu.
