Vještačiće part of the Meljine-Petijevići road

Yesterday, at the hearing in the Commercial Court regarding the lawsuit filed by the company "Univerzal Monte" against the state, the proposal of the defense was adopted to carry out a construction expert evaluation of the rehabilitation of the part of the road Meljine-Petijevići in Herceg Novi, near the town of Kotobilj.

Contract with the company, behind which stands a Serbian businessman Vuk Hamovic, which built the Meljine-Petijevići road in 2008 under an arrangement based on which it was supposed to use it for 20 years and return it to the ownership of the Municipality of Herceg Novi, was terminated by agreement on May 7, 2021, by the Government of the Prime Minister Zdravka Krivokapića, after which the toll on this section stopped being collected.

The government then tasked the Ministry of Finance to, according to the agreement, provide four million euros in the budget for the following year for the payment of compensation to "Univerzal Monte". That ministry he managed Milojko Spajic it didn't work. Instead, at the last session of the former Government on April 20 last year, a conclusion was reached that this money should be paid from the budget reserve.

That obligation of the Government Dritan Abazović did not perform, but forwarded the documentation related to this business to the Special State Prosecutor's Office, while "Universal Monte" initiated a lawsuit against the state demanding the payment of four million plus VAT. The state responded with a counterclaim seeking annulment of the agreement.

Judge Vladimir Bulatović on Friday adopted the proposal of the representative of the state Slavica Laković for expert evaluation of the restoration of the Meljine-Petijevići road section, which will be performed by a construction expert Jovica Radovanović, while the court will specify its task in a separate decision. The continuation of the dispute is scheduled for July 18, when the court with the parties and an expert will go to the field near Kotobilj.

The representative of the state had previously proposed an expert opinion in order to determine the quality and value of the works performed by "Univerzal Monte" on the entire section of the road, which was opposed by the lawyer of that company Mladen Ivanovic who stated that the company's obligation according to the mutual termination from 2021 was to repair part of the road in the town of Kotobilj at its own expense and to submit the available documentation, which, as he stated, was done. He added that if the court orders an expert report, it can only refer to the plaintiff's contractual obligation from the Termination Agreement, that is, only to the Kotobilj section.

Lawyer Ivanović added that the Government, because "Univerzal Monte" fulfilled all its obligations, tasked the Ministry of Finance to pay that company four million euros and that the answer to why the money has not been paid to date "should be sought in the field of politics and not law". He also stated that expert testimony is "redundant and unnecessary".

State representative Laković said that the expert should determine whether the investor has submitted all the documentation related to the construction of the road that is the subject of the BOT agreement, that is, whether the rehabilitation of the part of the road near Kotobilja has been completely completed in accordance with the revised project.

"If the condition of a part of the road is not in accordance with the project or the profession, it is necessary for the expert to declare decisively which works have been carried out and which have not, in what scope and what is the value of the performed and unperformed works, and whether they are in accordance with the profession, the project and standards or there are deviations", she stated.