Controllers of the Railway Transport of Montenegro (ŽPCG) returned from Serbia on Monday with unfinished business because, due to a number of deficiencies, they did not want to take over an unrepaired "Bcx" type passenger car from the Zrenjanin company Šinvoz.
Previously, on August 5 of this year, four only partially repaired wagons were delivered to Montenegro from Zrenjanin, which, due to more than 150 irregularities, cannot be used in railway traffic.
"It is true that our people did not want to accept the "Bcx" wagons due to perceived defects and that they returned to Montenegro. We will insist that the overhaul be carried out and the works carried out as stipulated in the tender documentation and the contract concluded with Shinvoz. the technical director of ŽPCG told "Vijesta". Radovan Mujović.
After a couple of months of waiting, this wagon was supposed to be delivered by August 15th. Mujović did not want to predict a new deadline when the problem will be solved.
"We have assurances that the irregularities will be eliminated in a few days, but I cannot specify a new deadline," Mujović added.
He says that Shinvoz explained to them that for the repair of four wagons in Bar, they still lack spare parts, which they should supposedly provide "in a few days".
The management previously announced that after the procurement of spare parts, repairers from Zrenjanin will complete the repair of four wagons in Montenegro, but as time passes, the workers increasingly speculate that it will be necessary to take them again to the Shinvoz workshop in Zrenjanin.
Secretary of the majority representative trade union ŽPCG Mirko Rmandic announced that the workers are "very worried, because it is obvious that key spare parts for wagons and locomotives, such as wheels and axles, are missing".
"The warehouse is full of spare parts for which huge funds have been spent. The question is whether all those parts will ever be used. A special problem is that these spare parts are not in the warehouses of ŽPCG, but in the warehouses of the rolling stock maintenance company. For that company, there is a government decision to divide it into two parts, part of which would belong to ŽPCG, and part to Montecargo. If that had been done, we think that the annual savings for the ŽPCG would be around 500.000 euros", claimed Rmandić.
He concluded that the current management, led by the CEO Predrag Popović "is not able to make any important changes that the relevant Ministry of Transport and the Government are interested in".
Mujović admits that there is a problem with spare parts from before, explains that it is not recent, but notes that there are certain stocks.
"I cannot say that the parts that are now in the warehouse will not be needed in 20 days or in some future period," concluded Mujović.
Due to the lack of couchette cars, which are still being overhauled, as "Vijesti" learned unofficially, on Sunday evening there was dissatisfaction among passengers on the Bar-Novi Sad railway line. Instead of sleeping cars, sitting cars (wagons) ran on that railway line.
Covers for the toilet bowl were paid 80 euros
The proof of how business is done in the public procurement system of this railway company is perhaps best illustrated by the invoice from May 15 of this year, which "Vijesti" obtained from sources close to the top management of this company.
As much as 805 euros, or 80,5 euros per piece, was set aside for ten lids with boards for toilet bowls in passenger cars. That this is an "inflated price" is shown by data from retail stores where the same product can be purchased at significantly lower prices of around 5-6 euros per piece.
Representatives of the majority Trade Union ŽPCG previously warned several times about the chaos, which has been going on for months, in this company, but the management categorically denied it. "The management of ŽPCG has already tasked the responsible departments in the company to provide information in this regard. After receiving this information, we will inform you what it is specifically about and what is the clarification regarding this issue, that is, whether the specified price is appropriate for that spare part of passenger cars", the company answered the question "News" from which supplier have purchased the specified product and why this unit price is so high.
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