More than half a million euros from the lease of Petrovac's Ponta

After the second tender, which again saw a million-dollar bid, the Public Company for Coastal Zone Management will, by all accounts, conclude a four-year lease agreement for the popular Petrovac beach "Ponta", with the previous tenant, the company "Ponta Petrovac", a caterer. Ilija Armenka.

This was confirmed to "Vijesti" by the director of the state-owned company. Mladen Mikijelj, stating that if the first-ranked bidder withdraws, the guarantee will be collected again, but the tender will not be canceled.

After a million-euro bid was submitted in the first tender in March, JP Morsko dobro canceled the public invitation after the bidder refused to conclude a lease agreement, and the state company and the relevant ministry assessed that the bids were fake.

At that time, three offers were received for the lease of a 39-meter-long beach, whose minimum seasonal rental price is 20.957 euros: “Žuti zec” DOO, 89.002 euros, Neimar investment construction” DOO Bar, one million euros, and “Ponta” DOO Petrovac, 30.000 euros.

At the end of July, a second tender was announced, in which local resident TM offered one million euros, LP submitted a bid of 62 thousand euros, M. S offered 290 thousand euros, the previous tenant "Ponta Petrovac" 103 thousand euros, while the company "Žuti zec", which also applied in the first tender, offered 123.486 euros.

"In the second procedure for the bathing area known to the general public as "Ponta", one of the bids contained a million-euro amount. However, Ilija Armenko's bid, which was third in terms of amount, was better than the second bidder (in terms of the amount offered) considering the references. Unlike the previous procedure, we now have a situation where the most favorable bidder came forward with a much higher amount than he stated in the bid and that the bid is realistic in relation to the value of the public good that is being leased for four years. If the bidder with the million-euro bid withdraws, Morsko dobro will collect the guarantee again and collect 62.914 euros based on the guarantees in both procedures," Mikijelj told "Vijesti".

In the event that the first-ranked bidder with the million-dollar bid withdraws, Mikijelj emphasized that the contract will be concluded with Ilija Armenko for a significantly higher lease amount compared to the starting price.

"In the first procedure, not only did we collect the guarantee from the bidder who withdrew, but we also prevented the state from being deceived by a calculating approach. If we had allowed this and had not repeated the tender, the state's revenue would have been lower and the state would have earned 25.410 euros per year, which is a total of 101.640 euros in four years. By repeating the procedure, we ensured that the state would earn 561.464 euros in four years, which is about 460.000 euros more. When the amount of the guarantees is added to that, the difference is more than half a million euros and the state's revenue is higher. It is clear and obvious that this confirms our determination to protect the public interest.

"We have not given up on our intention to conduct tenders legally and fairly and prevent millionaires from using public property in a way that deprives the state of a large portion of its revenue, regardless of all the pressures and the unprecedented media campaign waged by well-known centers of financial power and political influence against the Coastal Zone and the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property and their top managers," Mikijelj pointed out, adding that over the past six years, 84.700 euros have been collected from the lease of this beach.

Armenko confirmed to "Vijesti" that he is ready to conclude the contract, but also stressed that his offer was the best in both the first and second tenders. He reiterated that he challenged the decision of JP Morsko dobro to annul the first tender in court, because everything was carried out according to the law even then.

"The million-euro bids are legal, because if they weren't legal, they wouldn't consider the bids, but would reject them as invalid. If it's proven in court that we were right, they'll have to pay everything with interest. I paid a lot of money for this season, I paid all the fees to the state, but it wasn't my fault that I didn't have a contract. They charged me huge fines, the inspection... I'm protected by my pain, my million-euro investment in this beach. This is not a natural beach, and that's why I don't understand how Morsko dobro put Ponta in the same basket as natural beaches and put it up for tender. I invested a million euros to build it. There's no season when the waves don't cause huge damage to me, breaking the restaurant and inventory," Armenko told "Vijesti".

He emphasized that he will conclude a contract for 103 thousand euros, and that the sum per season reaches, once he pays taxes to the Municipality and others, as much as 150 thousand euros.

"Someone tell me that you can earn 30 thousand euros on 40 meters of beach and 150 sun loungers, and we only work 40 days a year. The court will decide who is right, I know that justice is slow, but achievable. I would like someone to show up and pay off my investment, I am ready to leave Ponta and leave it to whoever is ready for that," concluded Armenko.

Armenko: Some paid racketeers as much as 200 thousand euros each

Armenko says that all the offers of one hundred thousand euros and more that were in the tender were unrealistic.

"Those who did this in the first tender expected us to pay them a racket so that they wouldn't show up. There are beaches where gentlemen took a racket of 100 thousand and 200 thousand so that they wouldn't show up in the tender. And the gentlemen from the top of the government know that too," Armenko emphasized.