Meljine-Petijevići Road Back in the Court of Appeals: The State Filed an Appeal

The State of Montenegro has appealed the judgment of the Commercial Court, according to which it is obliged to pay the company “Univerzal Monte” 4.000.000 euros with default interest from February 1, 2022, in the dispute over the construction of the Meljine-Petijevići road. This has once again ended this dispute in the Court of Appeal.

This was confirmed to "Vijesti" by the protector of property and legal interests, Bojana Ćirović.

At the end of May, the Commercial Court issued a ruling according to which the state must pay a million-dollar amount to the private individual, as well as the costs of the civil proceedings in the amount of 21.970 euros, while judge Vladimir Bulatović rejected as unfounded the state's counterclaim, which sought to determine that the Agreement on the Termination of the Construction, Operation and Transfer (BOT) Agreement for the Meljine-Petijevići road was null and void.

"An appeal has been filed against the judgment of the Commercial Court of June 6, 2025, in which we point out the nullity of the agreement in question on the termination of the BOT arrangement. We believe that the plaintiff did not submit the necessary construction documentation, therefore, did not fulfill its part of the obligation, and we point out that the plaintiff had an obligation to hand over the road in good condition and to additionally invest in the road infrastructure. Now the Court of Appeal of Montenegro is competent to finally decide on the plaintiff's claim," Ćirović pointed out.

This is the second time that the dispute over the Herceg Novi road has ended up in the Court of Appeal. In November last year, the Court of Appeal issued a ruling obliging the state to pay the company "Univerzal Monte" 4.000.000 euros, while rejecting as unfounded the then-current request for payment of VAT of 840.000 euros, which this company also sought in a lawsuit. At that time, it was rejected as an impermissible counterclaim by the state, but even then there was a possibility of appeal.

Ćirović then filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal, after which the verdict was overturned because it was determined that the Commercial Court had issued it in violation of the Law on Civil Procedure. The dispute was returned to the Commercial Court for a new decision, after which the final hearing was held at the end of April this year.

The contract with the company "Univerzal Monte", owned by Serbian businessman Vuk Hamović, which built this road in 2008 under an arrangement under which it was to be used for 20 years and returned to the ownership of the Municipality of Herceg Novi, was amicably terminated on May 7, 2021, by the Government of Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić, after which the toll on this section stopped being collected.

The government then tasked the Ministry of Finance with allocating four million in the budget for the following year, in accordance with the agreement, to pay compensation to “Univerzal Monte”. The ministry, headed by the then-current Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, did not do this. Instead, at the last session of the former government in April 2022, it was concluded that this money should be paid from the budget reserve.

The government of Dritan Abazović did not fulfill this obligation, but forwarded the documentation related to this deal to the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), while "Univerzal Monte" filed a lawsuit against the state. The state responded with a counterclaim, seeking the annulment of the agreement.