Šamiz is not giving up the Željezara plant, he was the only one to submit an offer

The Swiss company "8B Capital" of businessman Igor Šamiz, who paid a deposit in accordance with the public by invitation, in the amount of 30 thousand euros.

As the bidder stated, the total amount for investments within a year from the date of signing the contract and starting production would be 7,750 million euros. The investment plan for five years, as stated in the offer, would be 36,850 million euros. The Swiss company's offer states that they need six months for the preparatory period for starting production, and that they would hire 152 workers for the first half of the year. The company "8B Capital" offered to pay a monthly rent of 31 thousand euros.

According to the offer, steel production would be 2.000 tons per month after the first year, and after five years it was projected that this production would be 3.500 tons.

"We accepted this bidder as a serious investor, regardless of the media inscriptions, which were not in place for a large part, because we, within our capabilities, and through state institutions, checked all these allegations," said Miro Vračar, a member of the Commission. and he reminded that the Swiss company was interested in leasing the Steel Plant since the first public invitation was announced.

They expect, Vračar said, to sign the lease agreement with 8B Capital in a month or two.

"I think the conclusion of the contract will be soon. I am optimistic that this work will start, which will be good for our society, Nikšić and Montenegro, and that this is a good start to this engagement. It is to be expected that '8B Capital' will start from the fall with this first year, which is crucial, where they will try to 'refresh' these capacities, to put them into operation, to gradually take over this number of workers, to train and refresh the equipment, to start slowly in production and to invest 7,750 million euros after one year and produce 2.000 tons per month," said Vračar.

According to him, the price of electricity for Željezara is not defined by the contract, but will be agreed upon with the bidder after signing the lease agreement.

"This contract also does not define the applicable law and the arbitration procedure. All other things have been defined, and these two things will be defined after the signing of the contract," Vračar pointed out.

The minutes of the Commission on the offer will be submitted to the EPCG Board of Directors.

"Since it is a lease, the Board can make a decision on the offer, but we will submit everything for review to the Government, as the majority owner of EPCG", said Vračar.

The public invitation was issued by Elektroprivreda after the Minister of Mining and Energy, Saša Mujović, suggested that it is necessary to match the intention of the investor to lease the Željezara's facilities for 50 years with a public invitation. Initially, it was planned that the mentioned facilities would be leased for a period of five to ten years, while the new public invitation provided for a lease for at least 15 and at most 50 years.

After the last public call, EPCG negotiated with Igor Šamiz, who expressed his intention to lease Čeličana and Kovačnica for 50 years. The board of directors of EPCG did not adopt the draft of the contract, which planned the possibility of Šamiz, after fulfilling the conditions, acquiring ownership, bearing in mind that the protector of property and legal interests, Bojana Ćirović, pointed out that this is illegal. She gave her consent to the refined version of the Draft contract for the lease of the facilities of the Nikšić Željezara, suggesting that the terms of the lease period of 50 years should also be stipulated in a public advertisement.

The new public invitation stipulates that the minimum monthly rent is EUR 30.000, and the maximum is EUR 150, as well as that the minimum number of employees that the bidder will take over in the first six months is 100, and the maximum is 150.

According to the public invitation, which, as stated by Elektroprivreda, was announced in order to valorize and preserve steel production in a factory with a tradition of steel production longer than 65 years, it is stipulated that the bidder is obliged to submit an investment plan for the first five years of the lease and the dynamics of the realization of investments in the existing production plants, machines and auxiliary equipment and a production development plan in order to increase the volume of production and invest in new equipment.