Green light for "Platac" quarry

The Government gave its consent to the continuation of the concession for the "Platac" quarry in Kotor and authorized the Minister of Finance Aleksandar Damjanović to sign the Concession Agreement.

The information on this was adopted at the last session of the Government, and it grants a concession for detailed geological research and exploitation of the mineral raw material of the technical-building stone deposit "Platac" in Grblje.

The protector of property and legal interests of the state initially indicated in 2021 that the award of the concession could not be carried out based on the request submitted by the company "Carinvest" of the former mayor of Budva, Marko Tsarević, as an interested party, and that this initiative could only go in the direction of supplementing the Grant Plan concessions. However, the Protector issued an innovative opinion at the beginning of August of this year, according to which the initiative of the company "Carinvest" based on the amendments to the Law on Concession, was used only in terms of supplementing the plan.

"The initiative is now the subject of an amendment to the Plan, which results from further allegations of the concession act, available documentation and the Opinion of the Environmental Protection Agency regarding the environmental impact assessment, and there are no further obstacles to concluding the concession contract in question," the information states. adopted by the Government.

The protector also stated that on January 24, 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency gave a positive opinion that there is no negative impact of exploitation on the surface and underground waters of the Platamuni Nature Park, and that there are no further obstacles to concluding the concession contract.

At the end of 2021 and at the beginning of last year, the then Minister of Capital Investments (MKI) Mladen Bojanić, since the concession act was presented to the public, came under the attack of accusations from the locals, the Municipality of Kotor, and the NGO MANS, that the whole procedure was allegedly rigged, that the quarry as For the past 15 years, it has been managed by the company "Carinvest". That company's contract expired on the last day of 2021.

This opened the way for Tsarević's company to manage the "Platac" quarry in the Krimovice village of Grbalje for another thirty years. According to earlier estimates, that work is worth more than 36 million euros, and the state would earn at least 2,5 million from the concession.

Despite numerous objections, the Government adopted a new concession act in December 2021 and tasked the Ministry of Capital Investments (MKI) to carry out the necessary activities for the publication of a public announcement and to appoint a tender committee that will conduct the public bidding process for awarding the contract.

The quarry was managed by the company "Carinvest" for the previous decade and a half, and the MKI, on the initiative of that company, made a draft of the concession act, which was submitted for public discussion in mid-November 2021.

The local community "Savina" warned the MKI that it opposes the adoption of the concession act, judging that the quarry endangers people's lives. They did not rule out protests if the Government approves the document.

The President of Kotor Municipality, Vladimir Jokić, asked the MKI to withdraw and give up the draft concession act.

The duration of the concession is 30 years, with a minimum annual production of 60.000 cubic meters, or about 90.000 cubic meters of aggregates of different fractions. The market value of reserves and technical-building stone that can be excavated, according to the minimum annual capacity for 28 years, is 36.892.800 euros, or 1.317.600 euros per year.

MANS filed a criminal complaint in 2021

In April last year, the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) submitted a criminal complaint to the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) against the then former Minister of the Ministry of Interior Mladen Bojanić.

"One of the provisions of the contract with Tsarević's company provided that MKI has the right to unilaterally terminate the contract in the event of a change in ownership of the company, without the prior consent of that ministry. Tsarević did exactly that - he transferred the company to his son Milan Tsarević, and the Ministry of Interior confirmed to MANS in February that they did not give their consent for this, but also that they did not initiate the contract termination procedure," MANS said at the time. a.