New five-day tender for the Kuk - Cetinje cable car

The royal capital of Cetinje yesterday again issued a public call for proposals for the development of a conceptual design for the construction of the second phase of the Kuk - Ivanova korita - Cetinje cable car, because no one responded to the previous call.

The new deadline for submitting bids for the conceptual design is June 9th at 15 am. The price has remained the same up to 30 thousand euros excluding VAT. The tender, which was canceled yesterday, lasted five days, from May 4th to June XNUMXth at XNUMX am.

The Kotor - Lovćen cable car opened for commercial operation in mid-August 2023. The cable car route starts from Dub near Kotor and ends at Kuk on Mount Lovćen, at 1.350 meters above sea level. The cable car has 48 gondolas, and the travel time in both directions is 22 minutes. The existing cable car was built and has been used since then by the Leitner - Novi Volvox consortium.

Since then, its extension to Ivanovi korita and Cetinje itself has been announced. According to a study from last year, the construction of this cable car would cost 58,3 million euros including VAT, while the conclusion is that this investment would be profitable and sustainable.

Prime Minister Milojko Spajić and the Mayor of Cetinje Nikola Đurašković had a meeting at the beginning of May last year, where one of the topics was the continuation of the construction of the cable car. Although it was announced at the time, among other things, that "the conditions could be created as early as June 2024 to allocate funds for the cable car from the budget". This item was not included in the later budget rebalance for 2024, while the state capital budget for this year provided for the sum of 200.003 euros for the preparation of construction documentation.

The plan presented by the mayor and prime minister at the time was for the cable car from Kuka to Cetinje to be completed by the celebration of the 20th anniversary of independence in May 2026.

Prime Minister Spajić pointed out at the meeting with Đurašković this spring that it is a very good project that will have the full support of the Government and that the money for the construction will be allocated from the capital budget.

"During the meeting, it was emphasized that this is the most important investment at this moment for Cetinje and that it is realistic to expect that the works could be completed by the celebration of 20 years since the restoration of independence," the Government announced in May 2024.

The Ministry of Finance subsequently announced that the project was not included in the budget revision for 2024, because the Royal Capital of Cetinje, after completing the technical documentation, submitted it in mid-August of that year, when the Government had already adopted the budget revision proposal and sent it to the Parliament of Montenegro for further consideration and adoption.

According to the conclusion of the Senate of the Royal Capital, the Royal Capital of Cetinje has completed the feasibility analysis, cost-benefit analysis and detailed landscape study with visual impact assessment, as well as the project terms of reference with urban and technical conditions approved by the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, as of January 2024, regarding the continuation of the construction of the cable car from Kotor to Cetinje.

"The project in question envisages the continuation of the construction of the cable car from the already built and functional Kuk station (above the Bay of Kotor) to the intermediate station at Ivanovi Koriti and the final destination in Cetinje near the Summer Stage. According to the submitted material, the total estimated value of the route in question is around 48,2 million euros excluding VAT (58,32 million euros including VAT) and without expropriation (around 85% of the land is owned by the state, the rest needs to be expropriated)," stated a statement from Mayor Đurašković's office at the time.

According to the Government's concession act, for the implementation of the cable car project "Kotor-Cetinje" from 2015, the cable car route is divided into three parts with four specific terminal locations - Dub, Kuk (intermediate station), Ivanova korita (intermediate station) and Cetinje, with a total length of about 15 kilometers.

"The Dub-Kuk section is 4.130 meters long, the Kuk - Ivanova korita section is 3.517 meters long and the Ivanova korita-Cetinje section is 7.454 meters long," the document states.