The Municipality of Budva settled the purchase price, making the contract legally binding and creating the conditions for the local government to be registered in the cadastre as the owner of the 815 square meter building of the former Yugoslav River Shipping Company (JRB) near the Old Town.
This was confirmed to "Vijesti" by the bankruptcy administration of the company "Vektra Montenegro".
The Municipality of Budva, after a full nine decades since the once representative building was built, becomes the owner of a valuable property. It is also the first major municipal purchase of a property in the past two and a half decades, as the practice has always been to sell off municipal property for next to nothing.
According to the real estate register, which "Vijesti" has had access to, there has not yet been a change in ownership of the JRB building. All encumbrances, mostly debts to banks worth millions, that were registered on the building in previous years have only been erased from the cadastral records.
The municipality will become the owner of only the building, but not the yard of some 3.000 square meters. The local government recently paid a million into the bankruptcy administration's account, which completed the purchase.
President of the Municipality of Budva Nikola Jovanovic He concluded a purchase and sale agreement with the bankruptcy administration of the failed company before a notary, by which he committed to paying 7,1 million euros from the city treasury for the dilapidated JRB building near the Old Town.
Jovanović's letter came after he was delivered the bankruptcy administration's decision accepting the Municipality's offer to purchase the attractive property.
The Municipal Assembly, by the votes of the councilors of the ruling majority on December 31st of last year, gave the green light to Jovanović to purchase the former JRB building on behalf of the Municipality for 7,1 million euros.
The decision to authorize Jovanović was also voted on by the councilors of "Budva our city", the European Union, URA and DPS at the end of August, but at that time the price was 6,9 million euros. The municipality has foreseen the purchase of the former JRB building in its capital budget for this year.
Jovanović had previously stated in his speeches that with such moves, the Municipality of Budva is returning property that was unjustly seized or sold to its ownership, and that the JRB will be adapted for the cultural needs of the city.
Bankruptcy proceedings in "Vektra Montenegro" were opened in early 2021 at the request of NLB Interfinanz Bank due to a debt of 40 million euros. In the bankruptcy proceedings, creditors reported claims of 251 million, mostly from banks.
The building where the Municipality traded was built in 1936 for the needs of the Hygiene Institute, and after World War II it was given to the Yugoslav River Shipping Company from Belgrade. At the end of the last century, the building passed into the hands of a Belgrade businessman Nenad DjordjevicHowever, after failing to realize his ambitious plans, he sold the company to businessman "Vektra Montenegro" in 2007 for three million euros. Dragan Brković.
Protector of property and legal interests of Montenegro Bojana Cirovic which in previous years prevented the sale of the entire property of the former JRB complex, previously told "Vijesti" that it is clear from the chronology of the cadastral registration that the Municipality of Budva gave the land to JRB for permanent use in 1959.
The previous authorities also had the idea of buying the JRB building, believing that its adaptation would provide a representative facility for a tourism metropolis, which the city lacks. However, the project never came to fruition.
They haven't registered for the kindergarten plot yet.
Although at the end of October, the Mayor of Budva Municipality Nikola Jovanović signed a contract before a notary with the company "Credit KB" from Kula, owned by businessman Branislav Kavaja, to purchase 5.473 square meters of property from that Serbian company in the immediate vicinity of the Podostrog Monastery, where the local government plans to build a kindergarten, there has not yet been a change in the cadastre.
Upon inspection of the property deed, a Serbian company is still registered as the owner of the land plot.
At the end of August last year, the local parliament gave the green light to Jovanović to conclude the purchase agreement. The then ruling majority from the ranks of "Budva our city", the European Union and the Civic Movement URA with the support of the Democratic Party of Socialists assessed that it was a good move, while the opposition from the ranks of the Democrats, the coalition "For the Future of Budva" and the Movement for the City were unanimous that this was a dubious arrangement, that the construction of the kindergarten jeopardizes the monastery complex, and that the Municipality owns the plots, but also expressed doubts about how the land's value was assessed.
Jovanović then said that by purchasing the plot, the city government is fulfilling the election promises of the Platform for the Saving of Budva, which won him support for leading the city. Jovanović referred to the response of the Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, which confirmed that the construction of the kindergarten would not in any way endanger the cultural property.
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