The opening of the priority section of the highway by January 15 is not certain, but it is very close, announced the Minister of Capital Investments, Mladen Bojanić, adding that he believes that work on the remaining sections could begin by the end of the year.
"I must not dare to say that it is January 15, but here we are." We came close. Somewhere we will all forget those one or two months of delays when we first set off on that highway, putting aside everything that happened with that project since the beginning of its realization. That road, when it opens, will be spectacular and will provide much safer and faster traffic to Kolašin," Bojanić said in an interview with the Mina-business agency.
He added that, unfortunately, he cannot say that it is certain that the priority section of the Bar-Boljara highway, from Smokovac to Mateševo, will be opened on January 15, and that he does not want to prejudge.
"Literally, in the last month, there were some minor jobs left. "The electrical and mechanical installation was delayed and that delayed the work the most, so we were waiting for certificates for water resistance and fire resistance, and maintenance should also be contracted with the Monteput company," said Bojanic.
He reminded that the project was not done as it should have been.
"The municipality did not make a bypass around Kolašin. That part of the road is very bad, but we managed to repair it, so that connection will be decent for the first time. A new road is planned from the Mateševo interchange to the Kolasin-Matesevo road, and we will do a complete reconstruction from Mateševo to Kolasin," announced Bojanić.
He added that in the coming period, in addition to the completion and putting into traffic of the priority section of the highway, work is expected to continue on the remaining sections.
"The project documentation is being prepared, and the conceptual design should be ready by the end of May at the latest. "At the same time, we are holding discussions with various investors, first of all with the European Commission (EC), to see what possibilities we have for co-financing or some form of assistance from European funds, in order to enter into the construction of the second section, because Montenegro can hardly enter into some commercial loans," said Bojanić.
He said that the conceptual solution for the section from Andrijevica to Boljar is being worked on at the same time and that this point of contact has been agreed with Serbia.
"It's about seventy kilometers in total for those two sections. Projects are being worked on in a hurry and I believe that we can start the works by the end of the year," said Bojanić.
He announced that in the Ministry, which covers the sectors of transport, maritime, energy, mining and hydrocarbon research, they found numerous problems, which must not wait for a solution.
"We found a lot of problems. Every day we were faced with a new challenge, some we managed to solve, some we didn't, some we will solve in the coming period", said Bojanić.
He reminded them that in the energy sector they were faced with the issue of the Thermal Power Plant (TE) Pljevlja, which they are trying to solve, as well as that an examination procedure was opened for exceeding 20 working hours.
"We have to continue talks with the Energy Community regarding TE", said Bojanić and reminded that Montenegro has committed to switch completely to renewable energy sources at some point, but that it is not easy.
According to him, the energy community understands the situation in which Montenegro finds itself, and that, first of all, it is necessary to provide a stable energy source first, in order to go into "some shutdown", which, as he emphasized, will not happen so soon.
Bojanić also stated that a solution must also be found for environmental, but also social issues, which would relate to employees.
He announced that he does not expect changes in electricity prices, nor disruptions in the supply of the economy and citizens, because the Electric Power Industry (EPCG) has a stable situation as far as production is concerned.
"It's not good what happened with the aluminum complex (KAP), but it opened up space for EPCG to enter the market, sell electricity at high prices and make a profit, while the supply of the population and the economy is stable," Bojanić said.
He added that he expects prices to stabilize on the international market, because their current, drastic growth is unsustainable in the long term.
"EPCG, as a serious entity, monitors everything and we have an assurance from them that there will be no problems in electricity supply and prices," said Bojanic.
He announced that the situation regarding the repayment of loans of shipping companies is drastically better, and that the Ministry is working on a permanent solution to that problem.
"We have come to a better situation, so shipping companies can not only pay installments for the loan, but they can also allocate part of the funds and return part of the earlier installments to the budget," said Bojanic.
He explained that the problem of repaying the loans of the shipping companies already awaited them in January of last year, at the beginning of the Government mandate.
"Shipping companies could not settle them." The cost of renting the ships was lower than the loan installment, so it was compensated from the budget. That has changed now, with better management of companies, but also with a change in the market situation. Freight rates have increased and new ship leases have been contracted at almost two and a half times higher prices," Bojanić said.
According to him, the Ministry is preparing plans for a permanent solution to this issue.
"We are aware that two companies can hardly function, except in some extremely favorable conditions. We will have to do some restructuring," said Bojanic.
He added that they have a lot of problems with Barska plovidba, where the state owns 51 percent of the shares and cannot make decisions without minority shareholders.
"They have some goals of their own that are legitimate, but they don't match the goals of the majority owner." We will have to do something to find a solution that will satisfy everyone. "Now the situation is favorable for us to make the right decision, given the stable sources of income," announced Bojanic.
He stated that the maritime sector was previously in the doldrums, but that the Ministry is doing everything to change that. As he said, there are also obligations related to new legal regulations on ports and inland navigation.
"We have some projects related to linear transport through Boka, which used to have this type of transport and it should be reactivated. It would be a multiple benefit, because the pressure on road transport would be reduced, and it is interesting for the sake of tourists and the local population," announced Bojanić.
When it comes to the traffic sector, the construction of a part of the bypass around Budva should be started, which should be part of the Adriatic-Ionian expressway.
"We received a grant from the European Commission for one part, and we will go there as soon as possible," said Bojanić and added that the decade-long dilemma remains to be resolved - how to bridge Boka, whether with a bridge, tunnel or some third option.
He said that huge investments are expected in the railway sector, because it is transport that fits into the ecological story, which will be worked on.
"It is also important to us because of the Port of Bar, passengers and transport. We have good Montecargo contracts with Cargo of Serbia. These are valuable contracts and we must help Montecargo to implement them, because they are huge resources for them and important for Montenegro, to activate railway transport as well," announced Bojanic.
He announced that the Ministry will do everything to ensure better conditions for passenger rail transport.
"The curiosity is that the only international passenger train in the area of the Western Balkans that has remained functioning is the Belgrade-Bar train. Regardless of all the adversities, it has been maintained and we are doing everything to reconstruct the entire infrastructure and make it faster, safer and better transport," Bojanić said.
He said that there are several options for solving the issue of the Airport of Montenegro, but that the Ministry will not decide on its own, but that the decision will be made in cooperation with the Government and the Parliament.
"There are several options, from a concession, to recapitalization or possibly taking out a loan, so that we can enter into all of that ourselves." All this has its good and bad sides, but we will consider all options in order to modernize them in the best interest of Montenegro, the airport and air accessibility. We are all aware that this requires large investments," said Bojanic.
He added that the parliament, in general, is against concessions.
"We are waiting for talks with representatives of parliamentary clubs to see in which direction we should go." We stopped with the tender, we did not enter the second phase. We called certain companies, that is, three qualified bidders. I said that these are renowned companies and that their plans are very good, but it is something that the Ministry will not decide on, but we will see what and how with the Government and Parliament," said Bojanić.
He said that the airline, after half a year of successful work, expects a lot of serious work on its maintenance, so that it would be successful and serious in the long term, and not, on the other hand, be like Montenegro Airlines, which often asked for help from the budget.
Bojanić announced that in the energy sector, they had discussions with the representatives of the Institute for Metallurgy and Mining from Bor about the idea of working with German companies on a cement plant in Pljevlja, which would be completely ecological.
"It is an idea that is interesting to us and we are in negotiations." It is an idea that needs to be developed, to be tested, but everything leads to the fact that it has a basis," said Bojanic.
He added that there is also the issue of electricity.
"We talked with the representatives of Serbia. They will quickly bring the gas pipeline to Prijepolje, so there is a mood to get a gas pipeline from Prijepolje to Pljevalje, so that in the future the thermal power plant can be transformed into a gas power plant," Bojanić explained.
He also said that they have a project with Azerbaijan, which is related to the South Stream gas pipeline, which leads to Albania.
"We are working on a project to reach Croatia via Montenegro. We will have a meeting in Azerbaijan at the beginning of February. Our goal is to provide Montenegro with gas, so that it would be a transitional solution towards the full use of renewable energy sources," announced Bojanić.
Projects for the Komarnica hydroelectric power plant, solar plants for Slano jezero, as well as EPCG Solari projects are also being worked on. Bojanić believes that these projects will at least be ready to start in the coming period, if their implementation does not start.
"We are aware that traffic and large-scale infrastructure projects in energy cannot be under the mandate of only one government, so if we lay out the road and make projects ready for implementation, it will change Montenegro in a positive sense," said Bojanić.
He recalled that in the mining sector there were some complaints regarding certain quarries and concessions, but that a balance must be found there. Mining, traffic and energy, according to Bojanić, affect the environment, but a joint solution must be found that would include the development of energy and mining facilities and the preservation of the environment as much as possible.
"We are not at the stage of development where Montenegro can live only on ecology. We want tourism, production, stable energy and fast roads, but everywhere we have to find a compromise to do it anyway, because it will bring some benefits to all of us", announced Bojanic.
He stated that the Government extended the deadline for oil exploration in the Montenegrin seabed to the Eni and Novatek consortium by half a year, because it considered it justified, considering that there were a lot of difficulties and unforeseen works.
"All the parameters were positive for a long time, but they changed a little towards the end." The final decision will be made by the experts of the consortium Eni and Novatek, who took the samples. Those samples are in Milan and we are waiting for a detailed report. The Directorate for Hydrocarbons and the consortium monitor it every day and when we receive the official report, the details will be released to the public," Bojanić explained.
He added that he cannot prejudge further, but that oil exploration has brought positive things to Montenegro.
"We have opened some new fields, and our staff has been trained, and now we are strengthened in terms of personnel. We are also waiting for the second part of the contract with the Greek Energean, which received concessions for gas exploration. They should make a statement on this matter by the end of January, and we expect that they will enter the research," said Bojanic.
He emphasized that everything that has been done so far did not cost Montenegro anything.
"Even in the extremely unfavorable scenario that no oil is found and that the Eni and Novatek consortium says that there are no conditions for exploitation, all the costs go to them." We will see what the result will be," said Bojanic.
Commenting on the situation in KAP, he said that it is clear.
"There was a huge difference in the price of a kilowatt hour of electricity between what KAP was asking for and what was available on the international market. It is impossible to ask EPCG to push itself into the deep red, and on the other hand, we were aware of the need to maintain some level of aluminum production," Bojanić announced.
He added that in the end it happened, so KAP kept the minimum production, and EPCG preserved the balances, so as not to enter into negatives in contracts that are very unfavorable for it.
"To draw a line, regardless of misunderstandings and accusations, somewhere it was agreed the way it had to be, which is good for tomorrow, if there is a justified economic interest in reviving the aluminum industry, it can be done easily and without any big costs," Bojanić concluded.
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