Miločer Park will be under state protection: The Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage is preparing a study

The Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage plans to prepare a study by the end of this year that would protect Miločerski Park as a cultural asset, while further construction of the "Janu Kraljičina plaza" hotel would continue unhindered, "Vijesti" has learned.

Prime Minister Milojko Spajić confirmed yesterday that by protecting this area, there would be no further work and expansion of the capacity of existing villas and other facilities. He announced on Facebook that Miločer Park is becoming a protected cultural asset, and that the Government will put the urban planning project for the "Miločer" hotel resort out of effect - meaning that there will be no new construction in Miločer Park.

Spajić emphasized that he had informed the management of "Adriatic Properties" about this, and that they agreed with this direction of development.

The government and the company "Adriatic Properties", which is the lessee of the "Sveti Stefan" hotel and "Vila Miločer", signed a settlement agreement in early April, which stipulated that they would notify the Court of Arbitration in London through a joint submission that they were withdrawing from the arbitration proceedings, which would allow "Sveti Stefan" and "Vila Miločer" to reopen in June after four years.

“Adriatic Properties” which is owned by a Greek businessman Petros Statis, is also building the “Janu Kraljičina plaža” hotel on this site, while these works were suspended at the beginning of the arbitration in 2021, after the escalation of the conflict with local authorities and locals. The hotel operator “Aman” has so far refused to open the complex without an agreement on the regime of use of the Queen's Beach and the paths in Miločerski Park, citing the safety and privacy of guests as a key condition. The government plans to settle the settlement so that there will be no additional construction in Miločerski Park, beyond that provided for by the building permit and within the existing dimensions.

"It is very important to protect Miločerski Park as a cultural asset, or a protected area, in accordance with the law. The process began in 2021, but for some reason it has been stalling for a long time and there has been no progress," the "Initiative for the Return of the City-Hotel Sveti Stefan to State Ownership" recently announced.

After completing the work and drafting the protection project, the Administration will submit the document to the Government for adoption.

"Miločerski Park will be protected until the end of this year. A meeting was recently held between Prime Minister Spajić, representatives of the Government, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Administration for the Protection of Cultural Heritage and "Adriatic Properties", at which it was officially approved, so the preparation of a protection study will soon begin. The existing hotel "Kraljičina plaza" will be exempt from the protection zone because it has a building permit and other documentation, so it cannot be retroactively affected, while there will be no reconstruction of villas and other construction in Miločerski Park itself...", said an unofficial source of "Vijesti".

Milocer Park covers an area of ​​about 18 hectares, and according to an earlier article in "Vijesti", it was designed in the French style, with a regular tree-lined layout, while its territory contained plants imported from Asia, Africa and America, including rare ones, such as tropical mimosa, Lebanese cedar, Japanese medlar, magnolia, agave, cacti of various types...

The old plan is going out of effect.

According to the Urban and Architectural Design of the "Miločer" resort, which Spajić announced that he would repeal and which the Government of Montenegro determined at the end of 2015, 17 locations are designated for a hotel, villas, green and open areas, transformer stations, helipad, beach bar, children's playground, accommodation, tennis courts, garage, restaurant...

This document planned the demolition and renovation of the existing hotel “Kraljičina plaža”, as well as the reconstruction of five villas located nearby, which would be further expanded. This document planned the renovation and expansion of the beach bar in order to increase the accommodation units for “Villa Miločer”, the construction of a helipad with an access road, on the ridge between the Miločer and Sveti Stefan bays, while the existing administrative building would be converted to accommodate the needs of the city hotel “Sveti Stefan”, while the same would be done with the “Kitchen and Laundry” building, while a business center would be built on the site of the existing shopping center.

The Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism issued the urban planning and technical requirements for the development of technical documentation for these facilities in mid-April 2019, while the Administration for the Protection of Cultural Heritage issued conservation requirements a few days later, emphasizing that some of the plots are an integral part of the protected environment of the Sveti Stefan cultural property and some of the facilities have urban planning, architectural, environmental and cultural values ​​of 20th century construction, so caution should be exercised during reconstruction, and that the investor must prepare a conservation project and submit it to them for approval.

In the heart of Miločerski Park, the demolition of the old and construction of the new hotel "Janu Kraljičina plaza" began in 2018, while the future building will have 63 hotel rooms and 63 apartments for the market.

The "Initiative for Returning the City-Hotel Sveti Stefan to State Ownership", which brings together locals and residents of Budva, recently said that it is crucial to stop any further planned construction in Miločerski Park, as well as on the plateau in front of "Sveti Stefan" where the demolition of the summer theater is planned to make way for the construction of new facilities.

"It is necessary to repeal the current planning documentation that is not adequately harmonized with other laws and regulations, as well as higher-level plans. Accordingly, it is very important to protect Miločerski Park as a cultural asset, or a protected area, in accordance with the law. The process began in 2021, but for some reason it has been stalling for a long time and there has been no progress," the Association said.

There have been attempts to protect Miločerski Park since 2015, but it was not until October 2021 that the proposal for protection submitted by the "Initiative" in cooperation with the NGO "Primorska" was accepted.