Germany wants to invest in Solana and restore production

Montenegro and Germany could soon conclude an agreement on the improvement of business cooperation in the field of sustainability of natural resources, which would be closely related to the Ulcinj Saltworks and concern investment in the restoration of salt production and the preservation of the economic resort, "Vijesti" has learned.

This follows from the report of the Commission for the Assessment of the Market Value of Property, which "Vijesti" had access to.

The Commission's report preceded the Privatization Council's unanimous decision last week that the property of the former salt factory, covering almost 15 million square meters, remains state property.

The report states that at the end of April, the secretary of the Commission, Snježana Pavićević, had a meeting with the German ambassador in Podgorica, Robert Weber, who then showed his country's great interest in solving the Solana problem. According to the report, Weber said that solving the property-legal status of the company is of crucial importance for the large financial support that Germany wants to invest in starting production and improving the ecological resort.

Based on a comprehensive analysis, the Commission concluded that the process of evaluating the value of Saltworks should be suspended due to the undisputed state ownership of the company's land.

"The Commission for Asset Valuation believes that it should be possible for the Federal Republic of Germany's interest in investing in companies to be realized through a meeting with Weber again, and after the confirmation of the Privatization Council on the legal ownership status of the company, which will result in the conclusion of a contract between the Government and the Federal of the Republic of Germany on the improvement of business cooperation in the field of sustainability of natural resources", is one of the conclusions of the Commission on Solana.

Analyze

The goal of the analysis, as written in the report, was "determining the value of the property at the time of privatization, 2001-2002." and comparative determination of the property's value as of today". The commission evaluated the offer of licensed appraiser Darko Bogetić, executive director of the international appraisal company "Adriatic Appraisal", as the best. After analyzing the privatization of companies, the Commission determined that during the period of mass voucher privatization in 2001-2002, a total of 59,28 percent of capital was allocated for mass voucher privatization of companies, 10,43 percent of shares went to workers, and 35,38 percent is planned for the sale of shares on the market.

By 2003, a total of 59,37 percent of the company's capital was sold. At that moment, the report says, the three largest majority owners of the capital were the PIO Fund with 26,86 percent, Eurofond with 20,39 percent and Moneta Fund with 11 percent. Bankruptcy in Solana was introduced in 04 at a time when the Eurofund owned 2005 percent of the capital.

In the report, it is written that in the period from 2005 to 2010, the Assembly of Solana shareholders made a total of five decisions on the issue of share capital. The first issue was in 2005, when shares worth 600.000 euros were sold to the Eurofund. New recapitalizations followed, and by 2008 Eurofond owned 75 percent of the share capital. In the same year, a decision was made to issue shares with a closed offer to a predetermined buyer in the value of two million, according to the company "Flesh", whose founders were Veselin Barović and Bojša Šotra, both members of the Solana and Eurofund boards. The Commission assessed "that numerous unfavorable credit arrangements were concluded with the burden of a mortgage on the Solana property, which are disputed not only in terms of credit approval by the debtor, but also by the banks, due to the lack of a legal basis for the ownership of the company by the Eurofund.

The accounting value of the Saltworks of 2,14 million euros and the estimated market value of the company's land at the time of privatization, the report claims, is many times lower than the market value of the land registered in the real estate register with a total area of ​​about 14.524,057 square meters, which was estimated in the bankruptcy proceedings to the amount of 157.513.372 euros. The Commission therefore established that the Eurofund as such does not have the right of ownership over the company's land, but only the right to use it. At the end of July 2012, the Assembly passed a decision on amending and supplementing the Spatial Plan of Montenegro until 2020, according to which the land of Solana was once again given the status of agricultural land. Previously, in 2008, the Assembly envisioned Solana as a tourist zone.

Unsuccessful sale

The sale of the bankruptcy estate, the report says, was attempted unsuccessfully 15 times, the first time in 2012. During the announcement of the fifteenth procedure for the sale of the bankruptcy estate by public bidding in March 2019, the assets of the company were estimated at 132,191 million euros. As in all previous auctions, the Commission states, no interested buyer appeared due to the unresolved property and legal status of the company. Based on the traded prices of the shares since the establishment of the company until today, they claim, it follows that 14.524.057 square meters of land are not part of the capital of the company, but represent state property. It is added that "to this day, in the real estate list of KO Ulcinjsko polje, the basis of rights is use, not ownership, in favor of Saltworks."

"Therefore, property registration was never carried out in the Real Estate Administration," the Commission claims.

After the Council's decision, the executive director of Euroinvest (which manages the Eurofund) Marko Bertanjoli and the president of the Eurofund supervisory board Nenad Štibilj spoke out, who assessed that it was a matter of political will and that the decision was made contrary to the Law on Property-Legal Relations and announced a lawsuit against of the state. They told "Vijesta" that it is not true that the Solana land was not included in the privatization process. They reminded that the study of the Faculty of Economics determined the value of all companies covered by mass voucher privatization and was the legal basis for issuing shares, which in the case of Solana is non-agricultural land with a total area of ​​1.300 hectares, construction facilities and production equipment. They stated that 110.323 shares with a nominal value of one thousand German marks were issued, amounting to 110.323.000 German marks, and that this was the total value of the Saltworks at the time of privatization.

Minority shareholders also spoke out, saying that they are satisfied with the Government's decision to return the company from Ulcinj to state ownership, because it opens the way for them to resolve their status as well. They told "Vijesta" that they expect to collect more than 200 million euros in compensation.

Land valorization proposal by the end of September

At the last session, the Government adopted a conclusion that tasked the Ministries of Economic Development, Finance, Ecology and Agriculture to, in cooperation with other state bodies, prepare and submit to the Government a proposal for the valorization of the Saltworks land, which is owned by the State of Montenegro, within 60 days.

Resulbegović: Robbery of state property prevented

The Ulcinj SDP welcomed the Privatization Council's decision that the land of Solana remains state property. In the letter to "Vijesti", it is pointed out that the decision definitely prevented an attempt at large-scale robbery of state property.

"In addition to this, a reckless attempt to create a large-scale environmental problem that would undoubtedly threaten the future development of tourism as the main economic branch of Ulcinj. We want to believe that this is only the first step towards the only possible final solution for Solana to become Solana again", says the letter signed by the president of the SDP municipal committee and a member of the Ulcinj parliament, Naser Resulbegović. He said that it is now clear that there was no room for a dilemma as to whether the market value of the land was paid during the privatization process.

"If that had been the case, would the DPS authorities have waited ten years to enable their wards to realize their dishonorable intention", he assessed and added that the SDP, contrary to the will of its coalition partners at the time, was proud of its contribution to stopping the attempt to urbanize the Solana land in the Assembly.

Resulbegović said that in the process of conserving the Salt Flats, it is important to highlight the significant contribution of important international factors.

"Unfortunately, all our attempts to make Ulcinj at least symbolically repay one of the key fighters for the preservation of the Salt Flats, the former German ambassador Gudrun Steinaker, by declaring her an honorary citizen, did not meet with the understanding of the local parliamentary majority. Primarily for the reason that the entities that made up or make up that majority did not have the strength to resist the influence of the DPS, their key partner," said Resulbegović.