Minister of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property Slaven Radunović announced that the tender for the lease of beaches will be announced by the end of the week, and that he expects Montenegro to have new tenants as early as March 20th or 25th.
He said this at a press conference on the occasion of the new lease of parts of the Montenegrin coast, for which the necessary documentation was adopted yesterday at the electronic session of the Government - an amended price list of initial fees for the use/lease of the maritime domain, which includes amendments to the existing price list, a proposal for a decision on the lease/use of parts of the maritime domain, as well as Amendments to the Program of Temporary Facilities in the Maritime Domain Zone for the period 2024-2028.
"The starting prices will be much higher, without any set-ups we will reach higher rental amounts, and we expect that it will be at least 15 million euros in revenue for . We expect it to be double, or up to 30 million euros," said Radunović.
The Minister emphasized that there are no more tenants, that the contracts for that business have expired and that a tender will certainly be put out.
"We are bringing in a lot of revenue to the state and eliminating discrimination against citizens," Radunović said.
Radunović also commented on the fact that those against whom court proceedings are being conducted can also apply for the tender, and explained that this was included because in this way the Constitution and the presumption of innocence are respected.
He added that they have clauses, meaning that in the event of a court ruling, the tenant will be excluded and the second-ranked bidder will be included in their place.
Old tenants perceive contracts as if they were signed with their ancestors
Radunović stated that the Government initiated the process to stop the racketeering in this area, but also to ensure that the state does not discriminate.
"Old tenants perceive contracts as if they were signed with their ancestors, not taking into account that others can also use this resource," Radunović emphasized.
He explained that the benefits of this procedure are enormous because order is being introduced to the sector in which criminal groups operated, and that nothing can be done through connections and pressure anymore.
The President of the Commission for the Development of Amendments to the Program of Temporary Facilities in the Coastal Zone for the Period 2024-2028, Nikola Ražnatović, emphasized that the criteria for renting beaches remained the same as in April last year, while the references were changed.
"The novelty compared to 2019 is that back then we had a 50-50 price-reference ratio, now it is 75 percent price ratio and 25 percent references. References are divided into two parts, 12,5 points for the decision on the approval of the beach operation in the past five years and 12,5 points for the blue flag. References have been reduced so that everyone can participate," he emphasized.
Radunović stated that until now it was almost impossible to beat the old tenant at the auction, because he initially had 50 percent of the points.
"The amount of money you had to offer should have been many times greater than he did. Now it has been reduced to one level, as far as I am concerned, I am personally against them getting 12,5 of these points, except for the blue flag, because there is no reason for someone who already had such an important resource from the state to receive additional points. Under pressure from colleagues, I accepted that they should keep those 12,5 points, because in essence it does not mean much, maybe in some common situations the new tenant has to offer two or three thousand euros. That is not something unachievable, so let it stay," he said.
The biggest price increase will be for tenants in Ulcinj, they had falsified figures
Asked about the part of former tenants in Ulcinj who want annexes to the contract, he stated that there was a particular problem in that municipality because almost all beaches had twice the square footage - than they were actually paid for.
"Whether it was the geodetic houses or the Morsko dobro, I won't go into that. The biggest price increase will be for tenants in Ulcinj," he emphasized, adding that the reason for this was that they had falsified figures, while now they will pay the correct amount of the fee.
Asked whether former tenants in Ulcinj will raise prices due to higher fees, he stated that now they are also citizens who will participate in the tender.
"Did the prices show that they were paying half as much? Prices will depend on supply and demand, but they will have to give up part of their profits to the state. For them, that difference is now huge," Radunović pointed out.
He added that the situation in Ulcinj is up to the state prosecutor, but that they will not base the contracts on old documents. He emphasized that they have hired a geodesic company to survey the beaches and determine these discrepancies.
He reiterated that the situation around the beaches is semi-mafia-like due to pressure on everyone involved, and that this is precisely why he could not give municipalities greater authority in this case.
"That would be catastrophic for Montenegro, because municipalities cannot cope with the pressure of those in power," Radunović pointed out, adding that he had received calls in which the presidents of municipalities asked for tensions not to rise.
He added that it is difficult to cope with the pressure in a small community, given that everyone is related or friendly.
"As the Minister of Spatial Planning, I don't know what our coast would look like if the Municipalities were asked," he emphasized.
Democrats did not participate in the vote, Đeljošaj and Dukaj were against it
When asked how the vote on this issue was held at the Government session, Radunović said that ministers from Democratic Montenegro did not participate, while the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Nik Đeljošaj and Minister of Public Administration Maraš Dukaj were against, while the Minister of Human and Minority Rights did not vote.
Asked about the appeal from the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro (PKCG) to annex the contracts with tenants, he added that pressure was also exerted on them, and that the president of PKCG, Nina Drakić, confirmed this to him in an interview, saying that they had signed the initiative for that.
Radunović reiterated that the tender will be announced by the end of the week, that it will last 21 days and that the beaches will receive tenants, who will be ready for the upcoming summer season.
Citizens have the full right to protest, they can hand over or sell their movable property to a new tenant
Regarding the announcement by former tenants that they will not remove beach furniture, that they will block the Kamenari-Lepetane ferry and the Sukobin border crossing, he said that citizens have every right to protest, and that they can hand over or sell the furniture to a new tenant, while in the final case it will be removed. He also emphasized that there will not and cannot be any resale of beach leases, as was done in the past.
Radunović also commented on the government's decision to keep the price of ferry tickets the same throughout the year, i.e. five euros for a small car, meaning that half the year it is not a euro cheaper for the residents of Boka Kotorska, and stressed that this was done due to price increases, repair costs, boat services...
He announced that Morsko dobro would prepare some benefits for the local population.
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