The Parliamentary Committee for Economy, Finance and Budget will consider the issue of Montenegrin airport concessions at its session on February 25th.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Nik Đeljošaj, the Head of the Ministry of Transport Filip Radulović, and the Executive Director of the Airport of Montenegro Roko Tolić were invited to the session.
The session will be held at the initiative of European Union Member of Parliament and Committee President Boris Mugoša, who announced that airports need to improve their infrastructure and business performance.
"The current tender procedure has been discredited for many reasons, as it has lasted for over six years and is accompanied by many controversies, which is why it should be suspended. The existing concession act has economic and legal shortcomings," Mugoša said in a statement.
As he said, the European Union is against giving both airports under concession for 30 years.
"Other valorization models should be seriously analyzed and considered - using EU funds, giving one of the two airports under concession, recapitalization by a foreign investor, foreign management, and others," Mugoša believes.
According to him, the overall market value of the airport must be determined, because, according to the Law on State Property, if its value is over 150 million, the decision on a possible concession is made in parliament.
The process of granting a long-term concession for the use of Podgorica and Tivat airports was initiated at the end of 2019, when the Government announced a pre-qualification tender.
Although the process was formally initiated then, the tender was slowed down or paused in the following years, so it remained without a final solution for years.
After years of stagnation, the Government resumed the concession process in December 2024, inviting interested companies to apply and submit bids by May 9 of last year.
The planned concession period is 30 years, during which the private concessionaire would manage and invest in both airports.
Two bids were received in response to the public invitation, namely from the South Korean company Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) and the Luxembourg-American company Corporación América Airports SA (CAAP).
After the opening and initial evaluation, IIAC was the first-ranked bidder, and CAAP was the second-ranked bidder.
The government and the competent tender commission have repeatedly extended the deadlines for evaluation and additional checks of bids over the past year, with the participation of international advisors, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The entire procedure was accompanied by numerous legal and procedural disputes, including objections from bidders and requests for review of individual evaluation phases, which further slowed down the final decision.
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