The Traffic Directorate illegally installed asphalt to the houses of SDP voters

In recent days, the Directorate for Transport of Montenegro illegally built part of the roads towards the local communities of Koljeno and Sređani, where the Social Democratic Party won the majority in the elections. In addition to not having the necessary permits, the Traffic Directorate did not call for a tender for the contractor and the supervisory authority, and the road sections were built outside the investment plan for 2013, which was adopted by the Rožaj parliament.

The President of the Municipality of Rožaje, Nusret Kalač, answered the questions of "Vijesti", saying that "unfortunately, in that city, as well as in other areas, there is the construction of buildings that are built without a permit and that are treated as illegally built".

"We do not know the number of illegally built buildings, but it is an indisputable fact that they exist. The Republic Building Inspection is responsible for determining illegal buildings, which is why we do not have accurate information about their number. It is a fact that a number of perpetrators of this criminal act have been prosecuted, and that court proceedings are being conducted by the competent state authorities, but it is also a fact that there are a considerable number of objects that have been constructed, and no cases have been initiated against the perpetrators, nor are any disputes being conducted." Kalac said.

Illegal road construction has committed several crimes, for which a prison sentence of six months to five years is provided.

"It is indisputable that they can also threaten the construction of certain communal infrastructure facilities, which further complicates the fact that it is necessary to deal more seriously with this problem in the coming period. I believe that we do not have a sufficient number of directly employed officials who should be engaged in this work, but that, in my opinion, is only one of the reasons for this behavior of unscrupulous citizens," said Kalač.

Illegal buildings, said Kalač, are most often built by citizens, but organizations and associations, and even individual state bodies, do the same, which is the case with the roads to Koljen and Sređani.

"Thus, these days, the Directorate for Transport of Montenegro built communal infrastructure facilities (rural roads) without a permit, contrary to the investment plan for 2013, which was adopted by the local parliament, and it is especially symptomatic for us that these facilities were built without a tender, supervision and other mandatory actions. This speaks in favor of the fact that, indirectly, there seems to have been a purely political admixture here, if we in the local administration do not know that on our territory, a competent state body is carrying out works without a legal basis and contrary to the law. When a state body builds illegally, then I am not surprised that citizens also decide to take similar steps, breaking the law," said Kalač.

In the local elections held in May 2010, the Social Democratic Party received 217 votes out of 128 voters in Sređani, while 68 voted for the Democratic Party of Socialists and 14 for the Bosniak Party. In the same elections, the SDP rounded up 171 in Koljen. person, DPS 147, and BS 68.

With the illegal construction of roads towards Koljen and Sređani, several crimes were committed, from illegal construction to abuse of official position. Each individual is threatened with a prison sentence of six months to five years.

The possible political background of the construction of rural roads in Rožaje is indicated by the fact that the Ministry of Transport, which includes the Traffic Directorate, justified the inability to prepare planning documents for the second phase of the bypass around Rožaje and the inability to complete the rehabilitation of the regional road Rožaje - Vuča with the economic crisis. i.e. lack of money. From the money that was spent on the construction of the roads to Koljen and Sređani, according to the claims of the insiders, that rehabilitation could have been completed.

Management without response

It was not possible to get a comment from the Traffic Directorate about the illegal construction.

Although "Vijesti" was promised on several occasions that they would at least receive information on Wednesday about when they can expect answers to the questions, by the end of working hours yesterday, no answer had arrived.

In addition to the facts related to the non-announcement of tenders and the failure to obtain the necessary permits, the Traffic Directorate should have clarified on what basis it chose the road routes to Koljen and Sređani, and whether the whole business has a political background.

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