After several hours of discussion, the councilors of the Municipal Assembly (MA) of Tivat tonight, by a majority vote, adopted the "Annual Report on the Work of the Mayor and the Work of Local Government Bodies and Services of the Municipality of Tivat for 2024", submitted by the Mayor Željko Komennaović (People Wins).
This agenda item was marked by the fact that initially, due to the inattention of opposition councilors, the president of the local parliament, Miljan Marković (New Serbian Democracy), closed the debate and put the report to a vote due to the lack of interest in councilors' participation in two rounds of debate.
Due to the opposition's outcry, which believed that Marković tried to quickly manipulate them and conclude this item, even though he complied with everything the Rules of Procedure required of him and loudly asked both the proponent's representatives and the councilors if they wanted to discuss, which no one was interested in, the debate was nevertheless reopened.
Komenović himself insisted on this, for which Dubravka Nikčević, a councilor of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), thanked him on behalf of the opposition.
"It is unfortunate that none of the councilors from the ruling coalition came forward to say anything about the work of their local government in 2024. Perhaps that is what motivated the mayor to act this way, but in any case, I thank him for it," said Nikčević.
She criticized the fact that, in her opinion, the report did not pay enough attention to tourism as a key economic activity of Tivat, praised the engagement of a graphic designer in the Municipality who contributed to more efficient and better communication between the local administration and the public, and asked why certain management positions in the Municipality were not being filled and why there was no interest from staff for these positions.
She advocated for the urgent activation of the suspended work of the largest Tivat Local Community (MZ) "Tivat Center", or rather its separation into several smaller and more efficient MZs, and requested that the work of the local council for naming streets in the city be activated, because for a long time, streets have not been named adequately, but only numerically or by old toponyms.
Liberal Party (LP) councilor Vatroslav Belan insisted that last year's Vice President of the Municipality Andrija Petković (Bokeški Forum) resigned, and the second Vice President Jovan Brinić (Krtoljaka List) recently did the same, but Brinić withdrew it in the meantime.
Belan believes that this proves political instability and disagreements within the ruling coalition in Tivat and criticized the local administration for the slow implementation of certain investment projects in the city, such as the promenade in Belani, and for not undertaking previously announced activities at the beginning of the construction of the city boulevard through Tivat.
Adrijan Vuksanović (Croatian Civic Initiative - HGI) believes that the Report should have paid more attention to what relates to minority peoples, primarily the Croatian community, which, as he said, solved one of its major problems last year - the status of the Cultural Center in Donja Lastva.
This facility was taken away from the Municipality of Tivat by the Government of Montenegro and donated to Croatia.
"It was not stated that Tivat is the only city in Montenegro where, in accordance with legal solutions and the rights enjoyed by minorities, on the Day of the Croatian People in Montenegro, January 13, the Croatian flag is flown alongside the state flag on the Municipality building," added Vuksanović.
Igor Petković (Social Democrats, SD) appealed to the local administration to urgently resolve the problem of the lack of adequate road access and parking at Tivat Airport, which is largely caused by the current construction of the Jaz-Tivat boulevard being carried out by the Montenegrin Traffic Administration.
"The situation is now such that buses can hardly approach the terminal building, and the parking lot at the airport is insufficiently functional. The season has begun, the number of flights and passengers has already increased significantly, and this alarming situation must be urgently resolved, even though the Municipality does not have complete jurisdiction over this, but rather the Traffic Administration and the Maritime and Coastal Areas are responsible for this," said Petković.
Komnenović responded that this, as well as some other problems in the city, such as the new municipal marina in Seljanovo and the yacht anchorage in the Bay of Tivat, were largely caused by the fact that the Maritime Administration has still not, despite the promises of its leaders, announced a tender for the installation of temporary facilities, which must be formally completed in order for the Municipality of Tivat to formally take over the parking lot at the airport, the location for the marina and the anchorages, even though the Government has already ceded this to it through its decisions.
"Last year, we developed a project for the traffic access and organization of parking and access roads to Tivat Airport at our own expense. It was agreed with the State Study of the Airport Location and we submitted it to the Traffic Administration, which should implement it through what they are currently doing on the construction of the boulevard to Jaz. I agree that the situation is alarming and urgent because the airport is the tourist gateway to Tivat and we as a city are indeed in an unpleasant situation where ugly images of us are being made public and attributed to us as the Municipality, even though our powers in all this are very limited, and others, like the Coastal Zone, are not completing their work on time," explained Komnenović.
He and his associates announced the imminent completion of the second phase of the lungo mare promenade in Belani and the start of work on the final, third phase in the fall, the continuation of the construction of new streets parallel to the Adriatic Highway through the city, the completion of which is a prerequisite for starting the reconstruction of the highway into a city boulevard and further strengthening the staff of the local administration.
He pointed out that the city is facing a lack or expiration of planning documentation, the preparation of which the state has centralized and taken into its own hands.
"Despite all the problems that are truly enormous and sometimes difficult to understand because we depend on other instances, the development of the city has not stopped. It is certain that we will continue to make maximum efforts to respond to the needs of citizens because Tivat is rapidly changing and growing, and its infrastructure is largely outdated and insufficient for today's needs and standards," said Komenović.
By majority vote, the councilors made a decision on the loan of the Municipality of Tivat in the amount of 2,5 million euros for the implementation of the project "Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment on the Adriatic Coast - Phase V Component 2" implemented by the German development bank KfW, with a repayment period of 20 and a grace period of ten years.
The Strategy for the Development of Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Tivat with the Development of the Business Info Center by 2029, as well as the Local Action Plan for Youth 2025-2026, was also adopted.
The Assembly continues its work tonight.
Bonus video:
