The Environmental Protection Agency will have to decide again on the Environmental Impact Assessment Study for the Smokovac-Tološi highway section, after the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Northern Development annulled the approval given to that document in mid-March.
This stems from a second-instance decision issued at the beginning of May by the department he heads. Damjan Ćulafić, which "Vijesti" had insight into.
The study is part of the documentation required for obtaining a building permit. It is important because the Government expects that section to be financed with favorable European loans.
The construction of the future, ten-kilometer-long section of the Smokovac-Tološi highway will cost around 270 million euros, and it will involve the construction of five bridges and a tunnel, the purchase of private plots, the displacement of the population and the demolition of buildings. The route is part of the Bar-Boljare highway and serves as a bypass of Podgorica, from the existing interchange in Smokovac almost to the future one in Tološi. As announced at the end of April, of the total amount, 100 million euros will be provided by the EBRD, 100 million by the European Investment Bank, while the state will provide 70 million euros.
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“Monteput” submitted the Elaboration for assessment in October last year, while the Agency gave the green light to the document in mid-March. The Ministry of Ecology decided on this approval after an appeal against the decision was filed by the NGO “Opstanak Rogami”, which is made up of residents of the Podgorica settlement of the same name. They claim that they were ignored throughout the entire process, that the rules of procedure were violated because they were not allowed to participate, and that the Elaboration is not in accordance with the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment.
"The decision of the Environmental Protection Agency of March 13, 2026 is annulled and the case is returned for a new procedure and decision-making. Upon reviewing the case files, this body determined that the first-instance body failed to establish all decisive facts and circumstances that are important for the adoption of a lawful and correct decision, that the reasoning of the decision did not provide clear and legally valid reasons for the adoption of the decision as in the enacting clause, thereby violating the provisions of Article 22 of the Law on Administrative Procedure and committing a violation of the rules of procedure," states the Ministry's decision, which can be appealed to the Administrative Court for another ten days.
The residents of Rogami have been objecting for a long time, stating that the planned route passes through the settlement, foresees the demolition of several houses and the discharge of wastewater into wells in their village. Because of this, and also because the project is being carried out according to the rules of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), “Monteput” will have to conduct an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA).
This was confirmed by the executive director of "Monteput" in an interview with "Vijesti" at the beginning of the year. Milan Ljiljanic, who emphasized that all aspects and comments will be taken into account, with the aim of resolving them during the implementation of the project.
Procedure incorrectly carried out
The Ministry of Ecology states that the locals requested participation in the decision-making process on granting approval for the Study, that they submitted this request through a lawyer in early March, but that the Agency gave the lawyer consent to participate in a letter, which violated the Law on Administrative Procedure.
"Primarily because it did not decide on the request by an administrative act, a decision, whereby it gave the status of a party in the administrative procedure to a lawyer, thereby committing significant violations of the rules of administrative procedure. The provisions of Article 51 of the Law on Administrative Procedure stipulate that the party, a natural or legal person, at whose request an administrative procedure was initiated, on whose rights, obligations or legal interests the procedure is conducted ex officio or who, in order to protect their rights or legal interests, has the right to participate in the procedure. This body found that the first-instance body established the Commission for the Evaluation of the Study by its decision and at the same time determined the amount of compensation for its work, while failing to obtain the opinion of the Ministry of Finance, which it was obliged to do," the department's decision states.
They point out that the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment has also been violated because the Agency should have formed a Commission, while it could only determine the fees for its work after the approval of the Ministry of Finance. They add that the Agency determined the amount of these fees based on the maximum number of days from the rulebook, although this is legally done based on the scope, complexity and duration of its work.
Therefore, they believe that the procedure was not conducted properly and are requesting a repeat of the procedure, in order to eliminate irregularities and reach a lawful solution.
Accidentally found out the epilogue
The residents of Rogama state in their complaint that as owners of plots of land included in the Study, they submitted a request to participate, but that the Agency did not respond to their request or enable them to do so. They stressed that they had requested the same during the public hearing in November last year, when they stated that a decision was being made on the environmental impact on their property and residence, but that they had not received any feedback.
They claim that they were informed about the approval of the Study by chance.
"...That the factual situation was incorrectly and incompletely determined because the objections from the public hearing that pointed to shortcomings in establishing valid facts and the proper application of substantive law were ignored; they dispute the legality of the study for several reasons, and that it does not contain the mandatory parts prescribed by the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment. The appellant proposes that the second-instance body annul the decision and return the case to the first-instance body for a new procedure," the locals' complaint states.
Prime Minister Milojko Spajic announced in mid-March that the tender for the construction of this section would be announced during April.
At the end of April, "Monteput" announced a tender seeking a consultant for the design and construction of the Smokovac-Tološi highway section, and according to data from the EBRD website, this procedure will last until mid-June.
According to the bank's website, the construction of this route will cost around 270 million euros, of which they will finance 100 million euros, the European Investment Bank (EIB) will participate with 100 million euros, while Montenegro will invest 70 million euros. It is also stated that the "Monteput" project will be financed with a loan or grant from the EBRD.
"Monteput" announced at the end of April that the tender was announced in accordance with the standards of the EBRD, which is participating in financing the construction of this section, and that, among other things, its goal is to significantly relieve traffic and reduce traffic congestion in the capital.
Water above the roofs
The Environmental Impact Assessment Study for the Smokovac-Tološi section highlights that under the corridor from the "Smokovac" interchange to the Širalija bridge, there are houses in the Rogami settlement, which is why it is planned to direct the riparian waters towards the Morača and Širalija rivers.
It is stated that the degree of impact of the highway will be high as it may cause significant risks to the health and safety of the community.
"None of the settlements, except for Tološ, is equipped with a sewage network for wastewater drainage, so no negative impacts on wastewater drainage are expected during the highway exploitation phase. Drainage is divided into 13 units that, after purification, are discharged into the surrounding terrain. This arrangement of subsections is conditioned by the longitudinal slopes of the roadway and buildings on the route, and especially by the position of residential buildings under almost the entire section," the document states, explaining that slightly more than 20 percent of the total amount of water will be purified, while the rest will be passed through bypass water.
This corridor runs through the borders or around the "Rijeka Zeta" nature park, the protected area of the Mareza source with the Sitnica river and the Velje Brdo area, but also the key biodiversity area of the Morača river canyon.
After exiting the tunnel through Velje brdo, the route crosses the bridge just 40 meters from the Magara Cave. This cave is a natural monument near Podgorica and has been protected since 1968 due to its biological and speleological values.
The study was done by the company "Via Project", which in February last year, together with "CDS Project" and "Geotina MNE", received a job worth 791.582 euros to develop a preliminary design for this section of the highway.
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