The Montenegrin government has decided to lift the moratorium on the construction of urban projects in Perast and Kotor.
The decision applies to buildings that were built in accordance with the law and need to be reconstructed, or new buildings, mainly underground infrastructure.
After a nine-month moratorium, the government decided that construction can resume in Kotor, a city under the protection of UNESCO.
That organization, after many years of warnings about endangering the valuable architectural heritage, threatened the possibility of removing Kotor from the UNESCO list of protected areas, and that was finally an alarm for the state to take action.
Construction has been suspended in the protected area since February, until a study of the impact on cultural and natural heritage has been carried out.
"For this reason, we stopped the construction, then we promised that the study would be completed by the end of the third quarter, it was completed and adopted by the government. Following its adoption, we lifted the moratorium on construction," said Pavle Radulović, Minister of Tourism and Sustainable Development .
The decision to lift the moratorium refers to the urban projects of Perast and Kotor, as well as the entire area under UNESCO protection, namely to buildings that were built in accordance with the law.
"Reconstruction, or possibly the construction of demolished buildings will be allowed in accordance with the guidelines that will be issued for conservation. The construction of underground infrastructure will be allowed, as well as the reconstruction of existing buildings that were built in accordance with the law and with the guidelines for conservation," said Radulović.
He also explains that the recently adopted Law on Planning and Construction of Buildings allows parts of the plan that are problematic to be invalidated, while the rest remain valid.
"The old law did not foresee the possibility of putting a moratorium on parts of the plan. So, either the entire plan was suspended, or the entire plan was in use," said Radulović.
The minister could not specify when the complete moratorium on construction will be lifted. He announced that tomorrow he will meet with the representatives of the authorities in Kotor, in order to jointly see how to harmonize the local planning documents, which have not been recorded as a potential problem, with the guidelines from the study - known as HIA.
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