The management of the Ulcinj salt pan, whose annual maintenance costs 250 euros, the tax debt from 2015 and the coronavirus pandemic, which took away millions of euros in revenue, are some of the reasons for last year's financial losses of the state company National Parks of Montenegro (NPCG).
This was told to Vijesti from the state company headed by the director Vladimir Martinovic. News sent inquiries after the Minister of Finance Aleksandar Damjanović said at the Government session that the company was subsidized with one million euros, 750 thousand from the past and 250 thousand from the current budget reserve. Damjanović pointed out that despite these subsidies, NPCG lost 564 thousand euros last year.
The National Parks said that on the basis of subsidies, they receive "only" 750 thousand euros from the Government, which they use for the implementation of program activities. As they said, by the decision of the Government from 2015, that company also manages the Ulcinj Saltworks, so from the subsidies "about 250 euros are allocated for plant maintenance and biodiversity monitoring for that unit alone".
According to the Government's decision from April this year, as NPCG said, the price of tickets for the parks was symbolically increased, so with the expected visit they intend to neutralize the inherited losses and achieve a positive result at the end of the year. They add that the ticket price for Montenegrin national parks is the lowest of the surrounding countries and that in neighboring Croatia, entry to the parks of Plitvice Lakes, Brione and Krka has long cost more than 30 euros and that this price has increased several times in recent years.
The government previously approved the amendments to the collective agreement for NPCG, which will increase salaries in that company, which, as Damjanović said, will cost the company half a million euros annually. That is why he requested that the National Parks submit to the Ministry of Finance an analysis of the planned improvement of funding sources, so that the increase would be sustainable.
NPCG said that by mid-June "157,65 thousand tickets were sold, while last year for the same period 88,26 thousand were sold". They add that 79 percent more tickets were sold this year than for the same period last year and that they exceeded the record in 2019. 3,2 million euros more than last year", said the state company.
Based on these and other parameters, they expect to exceed the financial plan for this year by half a million euros. They add that the planned revenues will cover the costs incurred by the adoption of amendments to the Collective Agreement.
"A detailed analysis of the adoption of the Collective Agreement has already been done and handed over to the competent ministry," the NPCG's reply states.
They note that their employees "for years had by far the lowest salaries among state-owned enterprises and that with the increase they are equal to the average of employees with similar references in other bodies for the first time".
Along with Damjanović, the Minister of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism is also present at the Government session Ana Novaković Đurović pointed out that the National Parks have been operating in a problematic manner for years and decades, but that due to the new management, she is sure of positive operations.
When asked what they did to rationalize business, NPCG claims that at the end of last year they took a number of measures, among them managing personnel and assigning them to deficit positions, but also reduced costs for financing current liabilities to a minimum. They add that they are continuing this during this year and believe that they are generating more income, which they are managing rationally.
The NPCG did not specify how much the changes to the collective agreement will increase the coefficients at the company level, but said that their fees have not changed since 2012, while the Government's decision from April this year creates the conditions for higher revenues that will be invested in addition to gross wages in the improvement of park infrastructure, equipment for work in the field. They claim that this was not possible before because more than 80 percent of the income was spent on employees' wages.
The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management also said earlier that he does not understand how the national parks operate negatively Vladimir Jokovic. He cited the small "Piva" Nature Park as an example, which he said is already operating and is sustainable.
The areas of the national parks Durmitor, Biogradska Gora, Skadar Lake, Lovcen and Prokletija make up 7,7% of the territory of Montenegro.
NPCG currently employs 273 people
National parks currently employ 273 full-time employees, while the average salary for May was 620 euros.
As they said from NPCG, in November of last year, when Vladimir Martinović came to the position of director of that company, there were 246 people permanently employed. They also emphasize that the average net salary for the month of May was 620 euros, while the monthly fund for gross earnings according to the last salary is 256,31 thousand euros.
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