About the text "'Marble' illegally extracted stone and received state aid", which was published in yesterday's issue of "Vijesti", responded from the Danilovgrad company "Mermer". The reaction, which was signed by the executive director Ilija Vukčević and the president of the trade union Veseljko Vujović, is transmitted in its entirety:
"On August 30.08.2017, 2 year, in your text, on pages 3 and 2007 with the title "'Marmer' illegally extracted stone and received state aid", you published a text that contains a number of untruths and incorrect constructions related to the operations of this company in the period 2014-2007. years. The first thing we want to point out is that the disputed text has perfect timing - a few days before the shareholders' assembly, as well as the interest of certain entities in the concession at the Maljat mine due to the expiration of the concession contract with "Mermera" AD at the end of this year. Although it can be most closely classified in the genre of science fiction, so we perceive it as common folklore before every important meeting of shareholders, or an event related to the business of a company, the professional attitude towards our business partners, clients, as well as fellow citizens obliges us to look back at least to the basic thesis of the text - that "Mermer" in the period 2014-19. "illegally exploited" decorative stone, and that the report of the Ministry of Economy showed that this company "showed a lower production" by 3 thousand mXNUMX, so "there is no doubt that the budget was deprived because of this" by not paying the concession fee.
Those who were engaged in research do not have adequate knowledge of the process of exploitation of raw materials, which is engaged in by "Mermer" AD, as well as the methods of calculation, control and payment of the concession fee. Namely, during the exploitation of decorative stone, the concessionaire, on the basis of the concession contract, pays the so-called permanent part of the concession fee, which is determined based on the annual exploitation defined by the concession contract. However, in accordance with the current regulations, in reality each concessionaire on an annual level can achieve a higher or lower level of exploitation than that provided for in the contract, since it is clear to any reasonable person that it is not possible to excavate rock mass precisely in 1m3 on an annual basis. The actual condition of mined mineral raw materials is periodically controlled by the Ministry of Economy in such a way as to order the recording of mines where exploitation is carried out, and based on this data, the concessionaire, if he has mined more rock mass than the amount provided for in the contract, should pay an additional so-called the variable part of the concession fee, determined by the decision of the competent authority. Otherwise, if the concessionaire has achieved a smaller production, the amount paid on the basis of the contract is considered the final obligation, and the amount paid more than the actual balance goes to the detriment of the concessionaire.
The reason why those who were involved in the research came to the wrong conclusion is ignorance of how to calculate the utilization from the total rock mass and what the obligation to pay the concession refers to. The stated amount of block produced by "Mermer" is exact data based on the actual utilization percentage, which is far lower than the assumed percentage applied by the Commission during its calculation, which is 21% defined by the Main Mining Project from 1997. That difference between the actual utilization and the calculation by the Commission creates a difference from the mentioned 19.000 m3. However, what those who did the research do not take into account when drawing conclusions is that "Mermer" pays the obligation based on the concession contract for the amount of 52.925 m3, which is far greater than the calculation of "Mermer" AD (23.677 m3) and from the calculation of the Commission (42.567 m3). This means that "Mermer" paid far more under the concession contract than what it actually exploited and the amount that the Commission arrived at by applying the assumed level of exploitation! So, in this way, the conclusion that the "budget was wasted" completely falls into the water.
One of the few that insures employees on full salary
"Mermer" points out that the entire team unreservedly supports investigative journalism. "However, we believe that time and energy were wasted this time, and we express our displeasure because those who were involved in the research did not address a single letter to our company with the aim of a valid and comprehensive assessment of the situation. Unfortunately, "Mermer" AD belongs to the smaller part of companies that insure employees at full salary, have no undeclared workers, and conduct sales every cent via account. In this direction, we invite all investigative journalists to be our guests and to familiarize them more closely with the work process of our company, as well as with all the anomalies we encounter on the stone market in Montenegro. On this occasion, they would only state a situation where a company gets a job at a public tender, and during the execution of the works, it uses and installs stone for which no concession fee has been paid. We are sure that after you spend a day with the workers of the mine and the factory "Mermer" AD and see live how decorative stone is extracted and processed, you will perform analyzes in this area in a more efficient way and draw far more cautious conclusions, since the terms "illegal exploitation" and "the budget has been deprived" followed by bombastic headlines really sound terrible to the lay and professional public", the response states.
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