The mayor of Pljevlja Igor Golubović (DPS) claims that the year 2021, despite the expected challenges, will not be financially uncertain for the Municipality and that the local administration will regularly finance its obligations.
In an interview with "Vijest", Golubović said that they transferred about three million euros from 19,2 to this year's budget, planned for 2020 million euros.
"We transferred around two million euros that we collected from the environmental fee, as well as certain funds that we reserved and did not spend for capital projects the previous year. As for this year, after the adoption of the budget and hopefully the calming down of the situation related to covid-19, we will enter a period of investing in projects from the capital budget".
Golubović claims that the crisis caused by the coronavirus epidemic affected more the expenditure side and very little the revenue side of last year's budget.
"We realized last year's budget in the amount of around 16 million euros, which is a record figure. On the other hand, if we exclude those revenues that we could not influence, namely 2,5 million euros for heating from EPCG and about 500.000 to 700.000 euros of certain projects that we implemented through the Directorate of Public Works, which were previously implemented through the Municipality Pljevlja, I can say that we realized the revenue side of this year's budget by almost one hundred percent".
The first man of the city says that he is not completely satisfied with what was done last year, because the epidemic disrupted the plans in the implementation of the capital budget.
"We can say that the Municipality of Pljevlja responded to the task within the possible limitation related to the covid-19 pandemic and within the possible implementation of the capital budget. We probably spent the first half of the year looking for ways to organize our work, so only halfway through the year did we start publishing tenders for the realization of projects from the capital budget, some of which have been completed, some are ongoing, and some we left for this year. ".
When asked - which realized project would he be particularly proud of, Golubović said that it was the project for the improvement of the city center and the introduction of parking services in the inner city core.
He points out that slightly more than two million euros, which were collected last year on the basis of fees for the protection and improvement of the environment from the EPCG Coal Mine and the company Gradir Montenegro, will be spent this year for the implementation of water supply projects in Pljevlja, waste water management, and the arrangement of riverbeds Čehotine and Breznica and the implementation of energy efficiency measures in order to reduce air pollution.
"Last year, we only worked with buildings heated from the boiler house in Skerlićeva. Unfortunately, we could not realize all the activities we wanted due to the lack of understanding of the owners, and sometimes due to the excessive amount of money that was needed for certain buildings. We have a couple of buildings in the city center that are very large, and one of them would need all the funds that we allocated this year for those purposes. In this year as well, we have provided funds for that purpose, but also for individual family residential buildings. We have to make a decision in the local parliament for both activities and define the conditions and way of using those funds. Through these measures, we interested international donors and the Ministry of Environmental Protection to be partners in these activities."
Money for citizens for energy efficiency
Golubović also said that all house owners, with appropriate conditions, will be able to apply for grants for the implementation of the energy efficiency project. It is not yet known how much money house owners will be able to receive, but he cited the example of Tuzla, where owners were given a maximum of three thousand euros.
This project, he points out, will be multi-year, and this year around 300.000 euros have been earmarked for these purposes.
"That project has already aroused a lot of interest at UNDP, which donated to us the complete funds for energy audits." We will cooperate with UNDP, which will also include banks, and where you will receive a grant in a certain percentage from the Municipality of Pljevlja, and a loan from the bank which will be favorable and which should cover the entire costs for the implementation of the energy efficiency project".
After a ten-year break, the local administration will continue the Ćehotina development project this year. About 300.000 euros have been earmarked for that purpose.
It is planned to arrange the bed of the Breznica in the part of the Vodice park and to clean the arranged part of the river in the Ševari settlement.
Speaking about water supply, Golubović said that their priorities are "the construction of three water factories" and the reconstruction of the supply pipeline from Plješa to the city, with return water for the so-called low zone.
"In Pljevlja, the problem with waste water is pronounced because we have a sewage system that is in very poor condition due to its age. We have already received a 350.000 euro grant for the construction and reconstruction of the sewage network. This also opens the door for larger investments through grants and larger loans".
2,5 million euros are expected from EPCG for heating
When asked by "Vijesti" - why Elektroprivreda has not yet paid two and a half million euros, which it announced as a donation to the Municipality of Pljevlja for the implementation of the city's heating project, Golubović said that they received the answer that it was "foreseen in their budget and that they are waiting for it to be implemented in the coming period".
The first man of the city says that he does not agree with the assessment that so far nothing has been done on the heating project of the city, which he said a year and a half ago that it would be completed in three years.
"What we were obliged to do based on the conclusion of the previous government - to create project documentation and to prepare tender documentation - we did. We did an analysis of consumption and estimated the value of the project, which will cost around nine million euros including VAT. We informed the Government about this and asked Elektroprivreda to transfer the money to us, so that we could request the implementation of this project this year by the state, because the implementation of such a large project, due to its complexity, requires the participation of the state. This is what we agreed with the previous government, and I expect support on this issue from the new government as well. We asked EPCG to pay us the money, but we haven't received it yet".
He also said that the project of installing filters in the boiler house in Skerlićeva Street, which he previously said was easy to implement, was submitted to the Public Works Administration, but they could not be installed due to covid and the inability of interested designers to come.
"I think we will wait for heating, that is, the implementation of energy efficiency measures."
The mayor assessed that currently three times more people in Pljevlje are heated with pellets than from the boiler house in Sekerlićeva, which supplies around 400 users.
"By implementing efficiency measures on buildings in the city center, coal consumption in the boiler house in Skerlićeva was reduced between 10 and 20 percent".
The change of government will not affect the projects
Golubović said that the Municipality applied to the Government for financing three capital projects this year.
"Construction of a plant for the processing of lake water Pliješ, worth 2,2 million euros. It is a two-year project and we asked for half of the money this year, and the other half in 2022. We applied for the construction of a water treatment plant in Breznica. The municipality of Pljevlja applied for and received a grant from Slovenia in the amount of 50 percent of the funds for that project. We have secured 800.000 euros and we asked for that much more from the state because such an agreement was made before. Of course, the heating project that we applied for in the next two years".
Golubović says that he believes that the change of state government will not affect the realization of important projects in the Municipality of Pljevlja.
"The attitude of the state government also depends on the attitude of the citizens of Pljevlja towards the state authority. Not in the part of adulation and political agreement with the state government, but in the part of proposing, lobbying and giving quality ideas to improve the lives of citizens".
Speaking about measures to support citizens and the economy in overcoming the consequences of the crisis caused by the coronavirus, Golubović said that there should be a distinction between what they would like and what the law allows.
"In the middle of last year, we adopted a set of measures that were balanced and harmonized with what is the responsibility of the local administration and what we could do depending on the budget resources at the time. We helped our fellow citizens by investing more in agriculture, we helped those who are engaged in private business by paying invoices to utility companies instead of them. We also significantly helped the Red Cross, in order to approach the most vulnerable residents through that social category. This is what the law prescribes. For this year's budget, we have planned several amendments related to covid-19, first of all in the part of co-financing the costs incurred by individual entrepreneurs from Pljevlja, and in the part of covering their costs towards utility companies".
I cannot cancel the tax like Nikšić
Golubović said that the municipality has no legal basis to exempt anyone, including farmers, from paying property taxes. When asked how the Municipality of Nikšić did this recently, Golubović said that he could not comment on it.
"I cannot comment on how the Municipality of Nikšić did it. I guess they weighed it well and I don't believe they would make an illegal decision. Now how they presented it to the public is another matter. What we had as a fact, that is, an analysis when adopting the first set of measures, was that we could not exempt anyone in Pljevlja from paying property taxes. The law says that we, as a local administration, are not competent to exempt someone from paying taxes. I think that agricultural producers, both in covid and out of covid, are quite stimulated to do business. Of course, there should be a separation of cultivable and non-cultivable areas. I am a supporter that the tax rates that the Municipality can influence should be minimal in the part of cultivated areas, and should be maximum in the part of uncultivated agricultural land, because in this way they would stimulate the greatest possible use of agricultural land".
The government will survive, the "number of hands" testifies to the majority
Golubović points out that he is convinced that the current narrow majority in the local parliament, led by DPS, will survive until the next local elections, which should be held in mid-2022.
"Whether the current government has a majority is told by the number of hands when some decisions are voted on. The good result in 2018 gave the coalition not to feel the loss due to the departure of two councilors who won the trust of the citizens based on the program presented at the local level by the DPS. We have a majority, and I am sure that this majority will remain until the end of the term".
He also said that he will make a decision on whether he will accept to be the head of the city again if the party nominates him in the next elections, based on an assessment of the opinion of the citizens - whether they are satisfied with what has been done.
The renovation of the swimming pool may begin this year as well
The mayor announced the beginning of the renovation of Borovicko jezera, which would finally give Pljevlja an organized swimming pool.
"Ten days ago, we formed a commission made up of Montenegrin's most eminent experts in urban planning and architecture for the selection of the conceptual architectural urban solution for the Borovica sports and recreation complex. The program task is ending and I think that in mid-January we will announce a competition for the development of such an urban-technical solution. We will have a solution by mid-July. The municipality of Pljevlja has urbanized that location. Maybe even this year we will start implementing this project".
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