The guests to whom we sold their imagination and managed to encourage them to come to a destination we called "wild beauty" least expected to be swallowing dust and colliding with excavators.
Thus, the director of the MAC SUN Montenegro travel agency Dragan Ivancevic described the dissatisfaction of guests who came to Budva from many European countries for a summer vacation, and found construction machinery, dust, and rutted pavement on the way from Tivat airport to the hotel.
"Tourists cannot understand that they spend longer traveling from Tivat airport to a hotel in Budva than they spent on a plane from any European destination to Tivat," Ivančević emphasized for "Vijesti".
The reconstruction of the existing Adriatic Highway from Jaz to Tivat Airport into a boulevard is being carried out over a length of 16 kilometers. The pressure from the public, the tourism industry and citizens is enormous, as there is great dissatisfaction with traffic jams, queues and travel times.
The peak summer season is just around the corner, and many people don't even dare to predict how traffic will be on one of the busiest roads in the country from early July to mid-August, when the tourist influx is at its peak. Huge crowds and long queues have been created during previous seasons, when no work was carried out, so it is certain that people will travel for hours from Kotor or Tivat to Budva during peak season.
Minister: Patience, it can't happen overnight
Minister of Transport Maja Vukićević She says she understands the dissatisfaction, but says that everyone needs patience, because, as she states, this is a large project, which she found with many problems upon taking office.
"The project encountered obstacles from the very beginning, there was no valid building permit, there was a six-month wait. What the Montenegrin public needs to know is that when the project was contracted, a two-year completion deadline was also agreed. The work began in January 2024 and the deadline is January 2026. We are trying to make the dynamics as good as possible. The Ministry of Transport has intervened several times with the Traffic Administration and the contractors themselves. It is not easy to work in the conditions on that section, I hope that a significant part of the boulevard will be completed in due course. That is the assurance we have from the Traffic Administration. Of course, the Ministry will monitor the dynamics," Vukićević told "Vijesti".
She pointed out that infrastructure projects cannot be completed overnight:
"I understand that there are crowds. There were crowds even without the works, now the situation is a little more difficult. But we all need patience. You know, infrastructure projects cannot be completed overnight, it is a process that takes time, it cannot be done in a month, or even half a year. Of course, we hope that the project will be completed on time and the Ministry itself will certainly insist that the works be completed on time as planned."
Ivančević: We are losing the battle with the environment
Ivančević, however, warns that he thinks we will slowly lose out to the environment when it comes to tourism, "thanks to the unpreparedness of the infrastructure."
"For the thousandth time, we have pointed out and warned the authorities in this country that construction and other works, when tourists come, should stop and be preserved, and that they should continue when the tourists leave. We are aware that both activities are necessary for the state, but they exclude each other. Excavators and tourists cannot be in the same place. We already have dissatisfied guests, and our guides and agency representatives see this. We expect complaints when the tourists return home. You know that there is an international document called the 'Frankfurt List' that protects guests from all unpredictable things. It very clearly and categorically gives the amounts in percentages that should be returned to the traveler in the event of various irregularities. The 'Frankfurt List' obliges travel agencies and hoteliers to bear responsibility for contracted services that are deficient or not fulfilled."
"Vijesti" recently announced that the construction of the section, worth 54 million euros excluding VAT, is being carried out by the Chinese consortium Shandong Foreign Economic & Technical Cooperation Co., Ltd & Shandong Luqiao Group Co Ltd, and the main local subcontractor is the Podgorica construction company Bemax.
The works officially began in January 2024 and should be completed within two years. The reconstruction of this section of the Adriatic Highway, as previously announced by the Traffic Administration, involves the construction of a boulevard-type road, which will have two lanes in each direction of travel, sidewalks on both sides and a median strip, and a new pipeline for the Regional Water Supply System will be built alongside it. 12 roundabouts and five three-way intersections are also planned...
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