The Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property, headed by Slaven Radunović (Nova), despite the request of UNESCO and the explicit opposition of the Municipality of Kotor, decided to retain the restaurant and viewpoint "Verige2024" at the location of Turski rt in Boka Kotorska in the latest Program of Temporary Facilities in the Marine Zone for the Territory of the Municipality of Kotor 2028-65.
"The object in question was registered through amendments to the Program of Temporary Objects in the Coastal Zone for the period 2013-2015. and the object has been gravitating on the ground for a full ten years. Through all the Programs of Temporary Objects in the Coastal Zone and their amendments, this object has stood, which has also been done with the current amendments to the Program of Temporary Objects in the Coastal Zone for the period 2024-2028. ", the Ministry confirmed to "Vijesti".
The Ministry, whose sole responsibility is to draft the Program, did not specifically answer why the location, where the exclusive restaurant "Verige65" has been operating for almost ten years, was retained in the latest Program. It did not answer on whose initiative this was done, although back in 2018 the state received a recommendation from the joint reactive monitoring mission of the UNESCO/ICOMOS World Heritage Center for the World Heritage Site - the Natural and Cultural-Historical Area of Kotor to limit the duration of that facility.
At that time, due to the huge construction along the shores of the Bay of Kotor and the controversial urban plans previously drawn up by the former state and local authorities in Kotor led by the DPS, it was questioned whether Kotor would even retain the status of a world natural and cultural heritage site. UNESCO experts went to the field and made a series of recommendations on how to avoid this danger and preserve the area. One of the recommendations that the UNESCO/Icomos mission explicitly insisted on was that the state “should limit the “temporary” existence of the facility on Turkish Cape”.
"The definition in the Plan for the Placement of Temporary Structures should be amended to limit its application to truly temporary structures, which can clearly be restored to their original state and are temporary, and the consent for them should be limited in time," the UNESCO/Icomos recommendations read, noting that this measure should be taken by the then Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, the Ministry of Culture, the Municipality of Kotor and the National Heritage Council.
Despite this, the current MDUP, led by Radunović, continues on the path trodden by the previous urban planning ministers from the DPS, legalizing the controversial construction of a large concrete structure on the previously untouched rocky coast at one of the most beautiful viewpoints in Boka Bay. Branimir Gvozdenović i Pavle Radulović, respectively Janko Odović (PES). Not only has the "Verige65" restaurant been included in the latest Temporary Facilities Program, which is valid until the end of 2028, but Radunović's ministry is secretly announcing the possibility of it becoming a permanent facility.
"Considering that the object has been gravitating on the ground for this long, we believe that removing this object would not restore the area where it is located to its original condition, and we believe that the location would then be unused and no one would be involved in its maintenance. We believe that some of the objects located in the immediate hinterland of the object on Turkish Cape are damaging the appearance of the Bay of Kotor more than this object," the MDUP told "Vijesti".
There are no buildings in the “immediate hinterland” of the “Verige65” restaurant, as the Adriatic Highway and the untouched green hillside above it are located above that road. The nearest buildings that spoil the appearance of that part of the Boka Bay are located about half a kilometer away, in the direction of Kostanjica.
The Municipality of Kotor has been opposing the existence of this controversial “temporary facility” on Turkish Cape for years and has demanded its removal, but both the previous DPS-led Government from 2015 to August 2020 and all Governments formed by the constituents of the new, post-August 65 majority have turned a deaf ear to this. Even before the latest amendments to the Program were drafted, the Municipality sent an official opinion to the Ministry of Interior stating that they do not agree with the continued existence of the “VerigeXNUMX” restaurant and reminded them of the positions of the UNESCO/Icomos mission, but the Ministry has again turned a deaf ear to this.
The MDPU did not answer the question of what the specific benefit to the state is in maintaining the existence of this facility in relation to the magnitude of the potential risk from UNESCO's reaction to non-compliance with its recommendations and requirements, or the possible negative consequences for maintaining the status of the Kotor area as part of the world's natural and cultural-historical heritage.
They only confirmed that the location had a valid lease agreement with the JP Morsko dobro until December 31st of last year and that it “will be in the tender process (for lease until 2028) to be announced by the Public Company for the Management of the Coastal Zone”. The previous tenant of this location was the company “Hefesta” doo from Herceg Novi, which built the restaurant “Verige 65” almost ten years ago.
When asked how Minister Slaven Radunović's actions in this case differed from the behavior of his predecessors from the DPS, the MDUP said that "the difference between the mandate of Minister Radunović and the previous ministers, Gvozdenović and Radulović, lies in the fact that the facility received a permit and was built during the mandate of the other two." However, they did not deny that the state will soon have to answer to UNESCO experts for its insistence on maintaining the "temporary" catering facility at the Turkish War.
"The UNESCO/Icomosa Commission is coming to Montenegro at the end of February 2025 and one of the topics with representatives of the Administration for the Protection of Cultural Heritage will be the temporary facility on Turkish Cape, designated as location 1.1 in the Program of Temporary Facilities in the Municipality of Kotor," said the MDUP.
Former Mayor of Kotor Vladimir Jokic (Democrats) from the very beginning of the construction of the "temporary facility" on Turkish Cape opposed its existence and pointed out numerous controversial aspects of the deal in which Hefesta leased the location, and the actions taken in this regard by the then MORT, the Maritime Department and the Administration for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, but the Special State Prosecutor's Office, headed by him at the time, Milivoje Katnic, assessed that all of this was legal and that there was no room for suspicion of corruption and organized crime.
Considering that the object has been gravitating on the ground for this long, we believe that removing this object would not restore the area where it is located to its original condition and we believe that the location would then be unused and no one would be involved in its maintenance. We believe that some of the objects located in the immediate hinterland of the object on Turkish Cape are damaging the appearance of the Bay of Kotor more than this object
The “temporary facility” called “Verige 65” opened in May 2017, even though the Municipality of Kotor had not issued it a permit to operate. The opening ceremony was attended by the then president of the country and the head of the DPS. Milo Djukanovic whose friend is a model Jelena Šćepanović one of the co-owners of the company “Hefesta”. Hefesta built a “temporary facility”, a restaurant and lounge bar “Verige65” on Turski Rt based on the Plan of Temporary Facilities in the Coastal Zone 2016-2018., which was adopted by the then Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism headed by Pavle Radulović (DPS). Previously, that department, which was then headed by Branimir Gvozdenović (DPS), made changes to the previous Plan of Temporary Facilities and on Turski Rt, at the initiative of “Hefesta”, designed a catering facility of 190 square meters. The project documentation for that facility was prepared under strange circumstances to say the least and with direct cooperation of the Administration for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Montenegro (UZK) with the investor, which was publicly acknowledged in the media by the then director of UZK Anastasia Miranović (DPS). The Regional Department of the Ministry of Interior in Kotor had previously twice given a negative opinion on the initiative to build a “temporary facility” of such character and dimensions on Turkish Cape, and even the then current DPS local government of Kotor declared itself against it. In the process of issuing the necessary papers, conditions and approvals for this facility between the investor and the competent state bodies, agencies, administrations and companies, there were several cases of very strange “timing”, i.e. backdating documents or completing a lot of administrative work that usually takes months, in less than 24 hours.
Their profits are officially constantly falling, and rent has also been reduced.
According to data from the Central Register of the Commercial Court, the owners of the company "Hefesta" from Herceg Novi are Aleksandar and Jelena Šćepanović with 35 percent of the capital each, while 15 percent is owned by Zdravko Jerkić and the company "Compania de vinos Montenegro" from Kotor, owned by Željko Uljarević. Until January 1 of this year, "Hefesta" had a valid lease agreement for the location for a temporary facility, which it concluded in 2019 with Morski dobro, which was then headed by Predrag Jelušić (DPS).
According to this contract, “Hefesta” could set up “a temporary immovable facility - a lookout with a parking lot and a temporary catering facility with a terrace” on cadastral plots 68 and 69 of the Kostanjica municipality. The area of the restaurant, which has a ground floor and a basement, is basically 190 square meters, and the terrace is 260 square meters, while the area of the parking lot is 1.260 square meters. “Hefesta” paid the Coastal Zone 31.700 euros per year for the lease of this location, which was reduced to half of that amount in 2020 and 2021, when emergency measures were in force due to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as to all other tenants of locations in the coastal zone, by decision of the Government. In 2022, the lease was returned to the amount of 31.700 euros that they paid in 2023.
However, with the latest, seventh annex to the lease agreement signed with "Hefesta" on April 23rd last year by the director of the Coastal Property Mladen Mikijelj (Nova), the annual lease for one of the most attractive locations in Boka Kotorska, "Hefesta", was reduced to 17.680 euros, because in the meantime it turned out that part of the land that the Coastal Property was leasing to "Hefesta" was actually privately owned by two Perast residents.
According to data from the Tax Administration website, "Hefesta" operated with a loss of 65 and 2015 euros in 2016 and 15.655 while it was building the "temporary facility" restaurant "Verige20.969". In 2017, when the restaurant officially opened, although it did not yet have fiscalized cash registers for issuing invoices, the company ended with a net profit of 106.955 euros, with the profit peaking in the following 2018, which "Hefesta" ended with a net profit of 150.426 euros. From then until the end of 2023, however, according to official figures, the company's business has been getting weaker, so the profit in 2019 has almost halved to 84.024 euros, and has continued to fall constantly, to the weakest result achieved in 2023, which Hefesta ended with a net profit of only 19.845 euros.
Bonus video:
