The proposal to amend the Law on Roads, which foresees free passage through Sozina for those who live north of the ramp, is the fairest solution for the citizens of Bar, Virpazar, Crmnica and other villages up to Ostros, said the Vice-President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Zdenka Popović, at the Committee session for economy, finance and budget.
The committee members unanimously decided to propose to the parliament to adopt this proposal.
Popović pointed out that in most of those places there are elderly families who go to the Bar only when they have to, to the hospital, pharmacy or health center.
"There are very few young people in the local community of Virpazar and Ostros. Regardless of everything, we cannot discriminate against those citizens, who are residents of the municipality, because they have to pay five euros each time to go to those places or to the workplace. We cannot even punish the Municipality of Bar, in order to clean the places of communities Virpazar or Ostros, a cleaning vehicle must pass through the tunnel, which must pay about 15 euros. It is in the public interest, it cleans the municipality, and it has to pay for the passage, and all of that is borne by the Municipality of Bar," she said.
She reminded that the tunnel was put into operation in 2005 and that the people of Crmni gave up their right to free passage on that road because they saw how much the tunnel was needed. Popović said that instead of affirming the citizens and finding a way to return the residents of Crmnica who went to Bar to live so that they would not have to pay for the tunnel several times a day, affirming the tourist offer of Virpazar and agriculture, they are doing everything to drive them away to the city.
"It is truly unimaginable that you pay five euros a day to pass through the tunnel. How much is it on a monthly basis? Well, someone will find an apartment to live privately, they won't cultivate the land, they won't engage in animal husbandry, tourism," she concluded.
The member of SD, Boris Mugoša, said that there are many reasons for this legal initiative to be adopted because the lives of these people are unnecessarily complicated.
He pointed out that this solution should be adopted, but that it should be refined until the very act of voting.
"We have proposed certain amendments, some normative technique is that you should define as many things as possible in the law and not leave it to potential by-laws to give some rights or obligations to citizens that are not defined in the law itself. I think we need to find a wording so that the law is completely clear about who and in what way exercises this right because it can potentially be abused," said Mugoša.
It is especially problematic for him if this right to free passage is tied to owning real estate. He emphasized that the Government has not yet given an opinion on this proposal, even though the deputies of Democratic Montenegro submitted it to the parliamentary procedure on June 14, and the Government has had several sessions since then, and sent an appeal to do it as soon as possible.
"I think that we should support the idea of such a law, but together we should appeal to the Government to submit an opinion, and then I am sure that the proposer and the person submitting the amendment, my colleague Nenezić from my party, will find a way in the conversation to make that amendment a part of the law," he said. .
Member of Parliament Jelena Božović from the New Serbian Democracy also supported this proposal and said that they will vote for it after it is specified.
Miloš Konatar, URA deputy, also supported this initiative on behalf of his club and appealed that in communication with the Government and "Monetput" they avoid getting into the situation that happened before, that certain parts of the law are not applicable in practice due to technical issues. That is why, according to his situations, details should be determined.
Politician Tonči Janović from Evopa Sad said that the majority agreed that this law is humane and that it has a social note, but that all things should be specified so that there is no discrimination that someone pays for a pass and someone doesn't.
And the president of that parliamentary committee, Mirsad Nurković, announced his support and advised that everything be harmonized with the by-laws in order to avoid the possibility of abuse and derogation of this humane initiative.
Leković: Next week, let's resolve the long-standing injustice
Democrat MP, Momčilo Leković, presented a proposal to amend the Law on Roads on behalf of the proponent and explained that vehicle owners who reside in the municipality of Bar and who live north of the Sozine tollbooth will not pay the toll.
Exempted from payment would be those who have their residence on the south side and who are employed by an employer whose business premises are located north of the toll plaza and those who have real estate in that area.
He pointed out that this would not require large costs and that this problem has been solved by the Municipality of Bar so far, and he thanked for that, saying that the local self-government allocated about 50 thousand euros per year for this.
As he said, this year "Monteput" announced some 30 thousand euros from this profit, which all together comes to about 80 thousand euros for this purpose, he said, and that in the proposal they stated that this held company would be damaged by about 100 thousands of euros.
"However, taking into account that there are already allocations, it would be maybe 10 or 20 thousand euros and maybe not that much. From this financial part, there are no allocations that would lead to preventing the adoption of the legal solution itself," said Leković.
After the presentation of his colleagues from the board, he thanked them and said that he was glad that opinions were not divided because the intention of this initiative is completely clear. They are willing and open, according to him, to talk with the Government, "Monteput" and fellow MPs in order to determine all the details.
"I expect that their answer will be positive and that in the end, be it tomorrow or next week, we will finally solve this long-standing problem of this part and indeed a great injustice that has been happening until this moment," concluded Leković.
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