Houses on the Podgorica square are free this year

Prefab houses in which interested parties will offer goods and services during the New Year's holidays in Podgorica should be free this year, and the capital will hold a competition for the use of these facilities.

This, among other things, is stated in the Decision on the organization of the New Year holidays 2021-2022. of Mayor Ivan Vuković, which was adopted yesterday at the session.

According to the documents, New Year's holidays will last two months - from November 15 this year to January 15 next year, which is significantly longer than in previous years, when the Holiday Market was organized in Podgorica.

It is also stated that the organizers will be the Capital City and the Tourist Organization of Podgorica, that the public services of the Capital City participate in the organization, and that the funds for the organization are planned by the decision on the budget of the Capital City for 2021, under the position "other transfers to institutions".

According to the documents, the mayor will form a commission that will conduct a competition for the provision of temporary prefabricated houses for use - free of charge.

"Prefabricated buildings of a temporary nature (houses) will be installed in accordance with the elaborator issued by the mayor of the capital city.

The Secretariat for Communal Affairs will approve the installation of prefabricated buildings of a temporary nature in accordance with the study... free of charge", it is written in the Draft Decision.

It is also added that the New Year's holidays will be held in accordance with the measures adopted by the competent state authorities to suppress and prevent the transmission of the new coronavirus.

In Podgorica in 2018 and 2019, on the eve of the New Year and in the days after, the Podgorica holiday market was organized. The initiator of the event is "Culture Club", i.e. the company "Brca". "Vijesti" has repeatedly written about Pazar, problematizing the way the event is organized, in which the Capital does not generate income.

According to the documentation that was submitted to the Association of Professional Journalists from the Capital City last year upon a request for free access to information, from the "Culture Club", i.e. the company "Brca", on December 14, 2018, they approached the Secretariat for Culture and Sports with the idea of ​​organizing the Market and a proposal for cooperation.

Already four days later, a contract on business cooperation was signed, according to which the Secretariat undertook to pay 10 thousand euros to the company "Brca" for the realization of the First Podgorica holiday market.

According to the agreement with the same company from October 2018, the Capital City, among other things, engaged the city companies "Deponija", "Čistoća", "Putevi", "Zelenilo", TO, the Secretariat for Communal Affairs and Traffic, for the purpose of organizing the event. The Protection Service, the Municipal Police and the Municipal Inspection "to financially and professionally support the realization of the project". The Secretariat for Culture and Sports, as written in the text of the agreement, also undertook to provide 30.000 euros for the realization of part of the cultural program, "which will be redirected to the account of TO Podgorica".

According to that document, the company "Brca" was obliged to allocate the income from the rental of houses to the costs of the artistic program, fees to artists and performers, marketing...

As they said last year from the Capital City, 42 houses - 38 smaller ones and four larger ones - were erected for the needs of the Second Market on the Square, and the money from the lease went to a private company.

The rent of the cottages, as it was announced at the time, amounted to 300 to 2.000 euros, for the entire duration of the event. It was never clarified on the basis of which criteria the cottages were leased. At the time, the capital city said that they had no influence on the choice of tenants, but that the houses were rented out by "Brca".

The capital city paid 2019 euros for the stage for the multi-day event in the city center in 25.000, and the Montenegrin Electric Transmission System (CGES) helped organize the event, which, as written in the work report for that year, sponsored Pazar with 5.000 euros.

A similar event was not organized in 2020 due to the coronavirus epidemic. The capital, however, adopted a Decision similar to this year's, and according to it, it was planned that the cottages would be transferred to TO, that TO would lease the cottages, and that the income from the lease would be used for the purposes of organizing New Year's holidays.

Last year, it was planned that, in addition to the Independence Square, the celebration of the New Year's holidays would also be organized in Bokeška Street, where there are several restaurants of the private company "Brca".