The Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) sold land in the center of Podgorica to the company "Eurozox" for one million euros, which plans to build a residential building on that location, writes Birn.me.
The land that DPS sold to a construction company from Danilovgrad is located in Beogradska street, in an exclusive location under the hill of Gorica and next to the premises of the company "Montenegro airlines". Two plots with a total area of 1.119 square meters include the parking lot of the former national airline, which is in bankruptcy, a green area and an auxiliary building of 84 square meters which, according to the cadastral records, "does not have a permit".
Tenants of neighboring buildings in Beogradska Street asked the Capital City administration to stop the project, stating that they will be left without a green oasis in the city center. Beogradska Street is located in the border zone of the protected area of the "Gorica" Nature Park and is recognizable by its rows of conifers dating back decades.
The representative of tenants living in the neighborhood, Tatjana Babović, claims that the construction of a new building in Beogradska Street would worsen the living conditions of the residents of that part of the city.
"There are old buildings in the neighborhood that don't have deep foundations... If they build a building now, they will block the flow of air from Gorica. These buildings were planned a long time ago and there is a green area between each of them," Babović told BIRN.
The Democratic Party of Socialists, based on the decision of the Party Presidency, announced on August 1st a public advertisement for the sale of a building of 84 square meters and land with an area of 1.119 square meters at a starting price of 955 thousand euros. The deadline for the submission of offers was August 4, when the contract for the sale of the land for one million euros was concluded.
The contract was signed by the member of the Presidency and business director of DPS, Aleksandar Žurić, and the executive director of the Danilovgrad company, Zoran Drobnjak.
The DPS replied to BIRN that as a political party, according to positive legal regulations, they are not obliged to announce a public tender for the sale of real estate.
"Regardless of the absence of a legal obligation, we issued a call for tenders, after which the sale procedure was started. We conduct our business completely transparently and in accordance with the legal system of Montenegro. This is best evidenced by the always positive findings of all audits and inspections," they said from DPS.
The party did not answer the question why they decided to sell the land and how many offers there were to buy it.
In the report of the State Audit Commission (DRI) on the operations of DPS for the year 2010, it is stated that the then ruling party bought the land under the Gorica hill from the company "Zetatrans", but it is not specified how DPS acquired the right to purchase and where it got the money from. .
When asked how and with what means they got the land in Beogradska, the DPS replied that "they acquired it more than 10 years ago, and the public was informed about it". They said that the real estate was properly recorded in every annual report to the state authorities.
On the plots below Gorica, the DPS management planned to build an office building where they would move the party headquarters from the old government building. Although, according to DRI reports, 445 euros were allocated to utilities, the construction of the DPS office building was never started.
Bonus video:
