The company Adriatic Marinas - Porto Montenegro paid 2.387.714 euros to the account of the Municipality of Tivat in the name of the fee for the communal equipment of the construction land for the business-residential complex Boka Place, which is being built in Porto Montenegro.
On this occasion, the leaders of the Municipality held a press conference where they presented details about the new way of cooperation between the city and a large foreign investor, who paid the last fee for utilities to Tivat back in 2012.
The President of the Municipality Željko Komnenović, who recently negotiated the payment of utilities for Boka Place intensively with Sheikh Mohamed Al Shajbani - the president of the ICD Corporation from Dubai, which owns Porto Montenegro, expressed his satisfaction with the agreements reached and the payment of the money that the city expected from the fees for construction of a new luxury complex worth over 100 million euros.
"We came out of this story that has been going on for a long time as winners and we kept the promise made to the citizens in last year's elections, that we would protect the interests of Tivat. I thank the management and owners of Adriatic Marinas for the understanding they have shown for the situation Tivat is in and the effects of our struggle to protect the public interest of our city. This is only the first step in resolving our relations with Porto Montenegro, which have been damaged in recent years by some political decisions of the former Tivat government. In the next three months, we will intensively discuss and find a mutually acceptable way so that the money that the former administration forgave Porto Montenegro for utilities, be used for the improvement of the city's infrastructure," said Komnenović.
He emphasized that it is unacceptable that on one side of Tivat there is the elite Porto Montenegro with infrastructure and facilities at the highest world level and the same Luštica Bay on the other side of the municipality, and in the middle the city of Tivat with streets full of holes, bad sewage, overcrowded and dilapidated schools and other missing public facilities.
He underlined that for the local administration, on the other hand, "jobs and a better standard for all citizens of Tivat" which the city gets through the investments of Porto Montenegro and the further development of that complex, are "very important, and "which is why we have to find a common language". "For the first time now, the Municipality of Tivat is at the table when making those decisions, and not, as was previously the case during the DPS administration, from the Government serving obligations and ready-made solutions that are unfavorable for us. That will no longer happen, and Tivat will no longer be decided anywhere else but in Tivat," underlined the mayor.
Komnenović did not want to comment in more detail on the fact that even after two years since the initiation of the investigation into the legality of the forgiveness of utilities of 5,6 million euros to Porto, Montenegro by the former local authority Tivat as a possible illegal public aid, the Agency for the Protection of Competition still does not have a final opinion on that procedure.
"That is already a matter for the government, because now, as far as I hear, there is a purge and dismissal of directors and members of the Council in AZK, and that is something that has obviously complicated and stalled the decision-making process in this case. It is up to us as a local government to find the best way to protect the public interest of the citizens of Tivat and a common language with a significant foreign partner, and we have already made good progress with today's utility payment for Boka Place," said Komnenović.
The leaders of Tivat announced that with this payment to Porto Montenegro, the total expected revenue of the Municipality from utilities for 2021 was exceeded by more than 100 percent compared to the plan. The total budget revenues are currently at the level of 87,33% of the annual plan and according to the words of Finance Secretary Jovan Brinić (NP), as of yesterday they amounted to 14.798.226 euros.
"This is significantly better than in previous years when the budget realization at the end of the third quarter was usually at the level of 65 to 67%. Last year, for example, the total proceeds from utilities and real estate taxes at the end of the third quarter amounted to 4,63 million, and this year, on the same basis in the same period, we have an income of over 8 million euros. That is why a decision will be taken to rebalance the budget, which will be increased to a total of just over 20 million euros - about three million more than the current budget," Brinic announced.
He and Mayor Komnenović emphasized that the current government of the civil lists NP, BF and GB managed to bring Tivat from a position of minus four million euros in the city coffers to a position where the Municipality currently has over 4,2 million in its accounts in less than a year of its administration ,XNUMX million euros of available money and all short-term debts were returned.
"It is the identity card of this government. Starting tomorrow at the public hearing, there will be a decision on budget rebalancing due to excess income compared to the plan, and what is happening for the first time after I don't even know how many years. This good situation, however, is in total disagreement with the political situation where we have the withdrawal of SDP's support for our minority government and the simultaneous boycott of SO sessions by their and foreign opposition DPS, SD and HGI. However, the masks will definitely have to come off now, and in the coming days when the Council of Ministers is supposed to be in session, it will be clear who among them is against adopting a budget increased by rebalancing, investing significantly more of the nca that we have provided in communal infrastructure, who is against the fact that the citizens of Krtol, who suffered great damage in the natural disaster ten days ago, receive ten times more money than was planned for in the budget so far, is it possible that the payment of salaries to workers in municipal enterprises will be blocked because we did not elect our directors , and the mandate of the previous ones has expired.... The pendulum of responsibility has now shifted from the local administration of Tivat to the political decision-makers." - said Komnenović, saying that the government of the citizens' lists NP, BF, GB in the past less than a year of its management of the city "saved Tivat from the bankruptcy brought by the DPS with satellites and put the city in a position for Tivat to once again be one of the most successful local governments in Montenegro".
Porto: We paid so that they would not stop the development of the project
On the occasion of the latest development, Adriatic Marinas issued a statement stating that "after extensive discussions between the current management of the Adriatic Marinas company and the administration of the Municipality of Tivat, both sides agreed that the long-standing, unresolved debate on the development of the infrastructure of the Adriatic Marinas company on behalf of the municipality in the territory of Porto Montenegro and the related compensation of the Fee for communal equipment, should not stop the ongoing investment and community development programs, because it would not be in the interest of the investor, nor of the municipality, nor of the citizens."
"Since the only solution to enable the continuation of the project is to settle the fees for communal equipment related to the development of the Boka Place project, the company Adriatic Marinas has decided to postpone its rights to compensate this fee, and to make the payment, while, on the other hand, we expect that experts involved in the final solution of this unpleasant problem, finish their work and draw conclusions for the long-term benefit of both parties." - announced from Porto Montenegro.
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