More money for municipalities to reduce water losses: Proposal for amending the Law on Regional Water Supply acceptable to the Government

In 2028, municipalities will receive 40 percent of the regional water supply fee instead of 20 percent, which they will use for investment maintenance of the local water supply network with the aim of reducing losses in the network, as stated in the proposed amendment of the parliamentary committee for tourism, agriculture, ecology and spatial planning, which has become an integral part of the draft law.

The Government has sent to the Parliament a proposal for amendments to the Law on Regional Water Supply of the Montenegrin Coast, which extends the collection of a special fee paid by investors building facilities in coastal municipalities until 2034. Under the current law, the collection of this fee was supposed to expire in December 2027.

The total collection of this fee last year amounted to around five million euros, of which, according to the previous distribution of 80:20, the Regional Water Supply received four million, and all municipalities received one million euros for their water supply systems. If the collection of the fee remained at five million, in 2028, according to the new distribution, the Regional Water Supply would have one million, and all local ones two million. Water losses in coastal municipalities now amount to over 60 percent, due to the dilapidated network and illegal connections.

The government proposed extending the fee so that the Regional Water Supply Company could complete its investment plans and repay the loans it had taken out for its previous investments.

First is the messenger Ilir Chapuni proposed an amendment to change the current ratio of the money from this fee from 80 percent for the Regional Water Supply and 20 percent for local water supplies to 60:40, but then withdrew that amendment. After that, the Assembly Committee proposed his proposal as its own, and at the committee session, the Government representative, State Secretary at the Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development Nenad Vitomirovic, accepted the proposed amendment. It will be decided by the plenum, and since the same majority is made up of the parties whose MPs supported it in the committee, its adoption is realistic.

"If citizens and investors are required to pay this fee for an additional seven years, it is justified to simultaneously correct its distribution in favor of local governments on whose territory the need for new infrastructure investments arises. The regional water supply system is today a developed and functional system that successfully performs its core activity of regional water supply. At the same time, the greatest infrastructure challenges are at the level of local water supply networks, reservoirs, pumping stations and the reduction of water losses. Each new hotel, tourist complex or residential building creates additional pressure primarily on local infrastructure managed by municipalities and local water supply companies," the amendment states in its explanation.

It was also indicated that the implementation of the new distribution of money is being postponed until January 1, 2028, in order to allow the Government and the Regional Water Supply Company to adapt their medium-term plans to the new revenue distribution model without financial disruption.