The flight season has begun, and the access road has been dug up: The traffic access to Tivat Airport from the new boulevard has not yet been arranged.

The access road to Tivat Airport, the main tourist reception area of ​​the Montenegrin coast, has been unpaved and unkempt for more than a year. Despite the fact that the summer IATA aviation season at the airport began on Sunday, March 28, and with it the summer tourist season in Tivat and Boka Kotorska, the traffic access road to Tivat Airport from the route of the new Tivat-Jaz boulevard is still in very poor condition and presents an extremely ugly picture to the increasing number of tourists traveling through this airport.

The main intersection leading from the boulevard to the airport terminal building has not yet been fully completed, nor has its connection to the boulevard been adequately leveled and paved, the sidewalks have not yet been concreted, the pedestrian islands are unkempt, and there are still piles of construction materials everywhere.

When asked when the construction and arrangement of the traffic access to Tivat Airport from the route of the new Tivat-Jaz boulevard will be completed, the response of the Traffic Administration can be summed up as "it will be ready when it is finished, but we don't know when it will end."

The construction of the entire new Tivat-Jaz boulevard, which began more than two and a half years ago, is significantly behind schedule compared to the originally set deadline - January 2026. Authorities from the Ministry of Transport firmly promise that all four lanes of the 16-kilometer-long boulevard will be asphalted by June 1, but it will still not be fully completed.

The contract for the construction of the boulevard is worth 54 million euros excluding VAT, and was concluded with the Chinese consortium "Shandong", and they hired the company "Bemax" as a subcontractor. The investment is expected to be significantly more expensive than the originally contracted amount due to a whole series of problems in its implementation, starting from the flawed project on the basis of which the deal was entered into, delays in the start of work, and later problems on the ground in a densely populated area, a dispute over the procurement of more expensive pipes for installation than those in the contract documentation, additional sewage works, and electricity supply. The budget proposal for this year lists a figure of as much as 84 million euros as the new estimated value of the total investment.

The Traffic Administration, which is the investor in the construction of the boulevard, did not precisely answer the question of "Vijesti" why, despite the fact that the summer aviation and tourist season in Tivat began almost a month ago, at least the arrangement of the traffic access to the Tivat Airport, which is one of the most important places on the entire route of the boulevard, has not yet been completed.

"The Traffic Directorate, together with the contractor and all other participants in the project, is fully committed to the construction of the Tivat-Jaz boulevard, including the traffic access to Tivat Airport and the arrangement of its contact zone. This is an infrastructure-demanding project that is being implemented in phases, with constant coordination of all involved entities and adjustment of the work dynamics in accordance with technical and organizational requirements on the ground," the Directorate stated.

At the disputed intersection, the approach to the airport from the boulevard, there have been almost no workers or construction machinery for days. Workers previously started installing vertical traffic signals on the part of the boulevard and the nearby roundabout where the entrance to the airport for official vehicles is, but nothing essential - primarily the leveling and paving of the airport turnoff at the point where passengers arrive and depart, the closing of numerous drainage holes that do not have covers, or the arrangement of sidewalks and dividing islands - has not yet been completed.

The access to the airport is therefore in a catastrophic state, especially considering the fact that Tivat Airport is supposed to be the main arrival gate through which EU leaders will arrive in Montenegro on June 5th for the European Union-Western Balkans Summit, which Montenegro is hosting.

The Traffic Administration did not specifically answer the question of whether, as the investor of the boulevard, it is logical for them that the traffic access to the airports and its contact zone are never completed or arranged, and that at the same time, almost every day, on a section of the boulevard a few hundred meters east of that location, near the turnoff to Lovanja, work is constantly being carried out on concreting the sidewalk on the upper side of the boulevard and arranging the dividing island between the carriageways, and what this says about the way the contractor sets priorities at this construction site.

They claim that the works on the boulevard "have been further intensified and are being carried out in three shifts, in order to accelerate the implementation and timely completion of the project."

"The Traffic Directorate is continuously monitoring the progress of the works and is in daily communication with the contractor, so that the project is implemented in accordance with the planned dynamics. Although there may be an impression of reduced activity at certain locations, it is important to emphasize that the works are taking place in parallel on several sections, but in different phases of implementation, which is common practice for projects of this complexity," the state body said.

"They claim that "special focus has been placed on the completion of the traffic approach to Tivat Airport, given its importance as one of the key entry points to Montenegro, especially in anticipation of the summer tourist season."

"Our priority is for the project to be completed with quality and on time, and in that direction we are doing everything within our jurisdiction to have the Tivat-Jaz boulevard ready for the start of the summer tourist season," the Traffic Administration stated.

The Mayor of Tivat Municipality has also publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the pace of work on the boulevard in recent days. Željko Komnenović, emphasizing that it is "below expectations" and that "additional shifts should have been introduced earlier in order for the project to be completed within the planned deadlines."

He particularly warned about the pressure created by seasonal flights at Tivat Airport, as well as upcoming international events that will further burden the transport infrastructure.

"Realistically, I cannot be satisfied... It is clear that the work schedule was planned until the beginning of 2026. Of course, it was not respected," said Komnenović.

Although he emphasizes that this is a complex project, he believes that certain steps should have been taken earlier. He also pointed to the additional pressure due to the start of the tourist season and major events.

"We already have 14 flights a day... Tivat is becoming a global event on June 5th, 43 delegations are coming and this route will be strategically very important," Komnenović concluded.