The budget of the Municipality of Bar for this year amounts to almost 63,5 million euros, and the largest part, almost 40,5 million, is earmarked for the capital budget from which capital projects are financed. Five months after the adoption of the local budget, eight out of 40 million have been spent on them.
He said this in an interview with "Vijesta". Stefan Šušter, Secretary of the Secretariat for Property and Investments in the Municipality of Bar.
They are talking, as he said, with numerous investors, and they expect a well-known German investor who is involved in trade to "enter" the Bar market soon. Bar is the subject of interest for numerous investors, but, as Šušter estimates, they are repelled by the slow return of money and administrative barriers at the local and state levels. He did not participate in the nomination of projects by the first man of the Bar administration Dušan Raičević, proposed to the Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, which could be a practice of agreements between the state and the United Arab Emirates.
Šušter claims that they are in no hurry to spend the remaining millions, because they want to think things through and invest wisely.
The capital budget of the Municipality of Bar for this year amounts to 40.450.000, or 64 percent of the total budget, which is almost 63 million euros. How have you managed it so far and where will this money be spent?
First, it is the construction of traffic boulevards from Sutomore to Šušanj and from Biskupada to the Ćafe tunnel, or to the intersection with the future reconstructed road R-29. We are currently in the phase of developing conceptual designs. This significant investment should significantly reduce traffic congestion. In parallel, in my opinion, no less important traffic route is the reconstruction of the road R-28, Virpazar - Sutorman - Bar. The municipality has prepared complete documentation, so the conditions have been met, if the Government has the funds, and I see that it is also in the Government's capital budget, for this tender for the execution of the works to be announced. If I am not mistaken, the value of the works is around 50 million euros.
I would like to highlight two more things, first of all the construction of an open and closed Olympic swimming pool in Bar, which is a dream of many generations. I think that the conditions have been met for us to start the works during this mandate. A tender has been announced for the development of the project worth 275.000 euros plus VAT. The selection of the best bidder is underway, and if there are no complaints, I expect that we could start the works by the end of the year.
Something that was not in the municipality's previous plans is the construction of a panoramic cable car. The public procurement procedure for the preparation of a feasibility study has been completed, to which one company applied, a contract was concluded with it, and the preparation of the study is underway.
In the territory of the municipality of Bar, projects are being implemented for several local roads and several hotels, as well as a shopping mall, which Bar has lacked so far, with the creation of prerequisites for the construction of two more shopping malls in the near future. It is also important to mention the reconstruction of the green market, to which we plan to “transfer” the flea market. A ground floor and an upper floor are planned at that location. In the immediate vicinity, we are also planning the construction of the first public collective parking garage in Bar with six above-ground floors.
What is the value of the investments currently being made in Bar?
The value of works on projects whose implementation is underway or for which we have already concluded a contract for the implementation of works is almost eight million euros plus VAT.
The capital budget is often carried over from year to year, to a greater or lesser extent. Can you spend this 40 million this year?
We will try to spend them to the maximum. Again, we will not rush to spend all these funds purely for the sake of spending, or rather the realization of the capital budget, but we have a commitment and a plan on how to do it. Citizens often ask me “When can we expect something?”. This is the most thankless question that can be asked to the secretariat. Almost no investment in the territory of the municipality of Bar depends directly, in all its phases, on the Secretariat for Property Investments, as strange as it may sound. The first step is expropriation carried out by the Real Estate Administration and already at that step we depend on another body. In the area of the municipality of Bar, we have about 15 revised main road projects ready for this year in various parts of the city. However, we cannot get down to business until the property-legal relations are resolved. And there are other objective obstacles.
At one of the local assembly sessions, you announced a potential investor from Germany who is involved in trade. Who is this investor and what stage is this plan at, or is it just at the level of an idea and interest?
I wouldn't go into detail, I think it's clear to everyone who the investor is, but I wouldn't single him out now. So, these are urban plots in the immediate vicinity of the Institute for Subtropical Culture. These are three urban plots for which we have received approval and in the coming period we will issue a public call for bids via auction, so it doesn't necessarily mean that they will get that location at all, because whoever offers the most - it's theirs. In general, we have their interest as one of the companies that will certainly participate in that public call.
Are you talking to any other potential investors? Are investors interested in Bar and in what domain?
We are, of course, talking to several investors from different areas. In general, they are interested in Montenegro and Bar. First of all, because of our natural beauties, but what they always encounter are administrative barriers in both the state administration system and the local government system. This makes them think twice about whether to invest in Bar and Montenegro. Most often, investors come either to build shopping malls or hotels. However, I think that the state has not created adequate conditions for Montenegro, including Bar, to be attractive areas for investments in this type of business.
The public focus was on investor Mohamed Alabar. At the initiative of the Prime Minister, the Mayor nominated several projects that could later be part of what will be the practice of the agreement signed between Montenegro and the UAE. He nominated an airport, a five-star hotel, as well as a container terminal. How do you comment on that? Are these the priorities of the Bar Municipality?
In any case, these are good initiatives, but despite that, of course, we still have a lot to offer investors. As for the specific investor you mentioned, I have nothing against any investor coming to the area of the Bar municipality, but under clearly defined conditions and with maximum protection of state interests and the interests of local self-government. It is important to be competitive, because Montenegro and Bar are not the happiest destinations when it comes to the expected return on investment, because in some countries it is a short period, in Montenegro, probably due to the small market and the many problems we face, the return on investment is, let me say, much longer than realistically expected.
Did your Secretariat participate in the nomination of these projects? If not, do you have any other ideas for projects that you think could be offered to these specific investors who would be covered by this agreement?
We did not participate in the nomination of those projects. That's all I have to say.
In the past period, the people of Bar have loudly protested against numerous solutions under the current DUPs and other planning documents. The most vocal were the residents of Bjeliš, followed by citizens living in the area of Ratac, Žukotrlica, Šušanjani, Sutomorčani... Some of the complaints about these existing solutions during public discussions were directed specifically to you by the citizens. How do you deal with these problems and what kind of communication do you have with the citizens on this issue?
When drafting the budget decision and spatial planning program, many of our fellow citizens come to highlight some of their real problems. I completely understand them, but this Secretariat is exclusively an executive body. Therefore, it only needs to implement the adopted planning documents and does not have the authority to change them, and therefore, I once again appeal to whoever plans the space in the municipality of Bar, to still take into account their justified views, considering the space as a whole. High-quality planning documents mean a much easier job for us when bringing the space to its intended purpose. It is especially important to focus on adopting new planning documents in areas that are not urbanized.
There is no reason that even when we do a project, when we finish it, when we spend the budget funds, the citizens should be dissatisfied again, and in fact, that is what concerns them the most. That is the essence of the story, that all people should be satisfied. We are trying to move in that direction. It is quite difficult to explain to citizens how the local government system works, but we try to accommodate everyone where possible and try to bring a project to its end to their general satisfaction. In essence, the satisfaction of citizens is a priority over investments, except when it comes to crucial investments of general interest with which there is no compromise.
What projects have not yet been initiated, but are in the pipeline? You mentioned earlier an administrative center that would house the new premises of the Municipality of Bar. What about that idea?
I hope that I will be able to initiate a meeting so that not only local self-government, but also individual state administration bodies, and I hope all those operating in the area of the Municipality of Bar, will receive new, improved administrative capacities through the construction of an administrative center at this location behind the Municipality building, where the Municipality of Bar has the right to dispose of three urban plots. I will personally advocate for this. The Bar Municipality building itself was built in 79 or 80, and the working conditions are inadequate. We would improve this not only through the construction of a new Bar Municipality building, but we also want to try to expand it, to move the entire administrative center to that area.
Did you initiate this idea somewhere?
I did it informally, but I also plan to do it formally, to see if there is any interest from the Government. That would also solve the problems of the branches of the Ministry of Internal Affairs because we know the conditions in which they work. We would solve the problem of the administrative capacities of the Real Estate Administration, the Tax Administration, the Minor Offences Court, the Prosecutor's Office, the Basic Court.
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