Budva's Old Town is in chaos: Passes are being stamped, temporary buildings are springing up

The Old Town is in great chaos, and political parties are hindering the work of the Communal Inspection and the police to restore order, while the municipal company Parking Servis is stamping passes and knowingly harassing the Old Town residents, preventing them from using the parking lots in the contact zone intended for them.

This is what the president of the Local Community Council "Stari grad" said in an interview with "Vijesti". Ognjen Balabušić, stating that the whole situation is complicated by the fact that they are following the elections, and the authorities are knowingly breaking the laws.

On the other hand, Balabušić believes that there is a big problem with the influence of political parties on the work of the Municipal Police and Inspection.

"The municipal police and inspection have both the will and the desire to solve many problems. However, from conversations with them, the political parties in power in Budva hinder her work. Especially now, when the elections are approaching, many owners of catering establishments, temporary establishments are members of parties and the parties promise them various things, mostly illegal. This is how catering terraces are placed where it is not allowed, temporary facilities where it is not allowed. Everyone does what they want and what they want with the tacit consent of the local government, which is unacceptable. "In the last 20 years, since the founding of Parking Service, that phantom and corrupt company has continuously harassed and humiliated the citizens of the Old Town," said Balabušić.

He stated that the Rulebook signed by the President of the Municipality Marko Carevic it is precisely regulated who has the right to park in the contact zone of the Old Town.

"At the locations of the Port Authority and the old bus station, those two parking spaces are exclusively intended for citizens of the Old Town, those who have their own properties and who have permanent residence. However, all these years, and especially now in the election period, political parties, starting with the DPS and continuing, in order to satisfy their voters, honor people with passes to whom this right does not belong. This creates continuous chaos to the detriment of the citizens of Starograd", he said. is Balabušić.

According to him, the citizens of the Old Town are outraged and revolted.

"We reported it to the Administrative Inspection, because no administrative procedure is carried out in the Parking Service. For the sake of comparison, when you ask for a parking space in Podgorica, in the local company that manages the parking lots, you get a solution in written form. Nothing here, and it is done in an inappropriate way, against the law. We reported all of this and asked the Administrative Inspection to provide us with the minutes. The inspector was on a 'visit' to the municipal company, walked through the offices of the Parking Service, and found no irregularities, supposedly everything is fine. This is another proof that nothing works in this country, from the republican to the municipal government," Balabušić points out.

As he said, the local community has repeatedly begged the authorities to finally bring order to the Parking Service.

"Someone has to force them to work according to the law, to apply the Rulebook and the administrative procedure. We request that the entire process of allocating passes be annulled and that an administrative procedure be carried out, that passes be granted to those to whom they belong. The parking service is also obliged to provide us with a list of issued passes on the first of each month. They have never done it and apparently have no intention of doing so. It is necessary to replace the entire management of that company and put that company on a healthy footing," said Balabušić, reminding that the company was founded 20 years ago on the proposal of the then Liberal Alliance.

Selling pizzas and burgers on every corner

Balabušić warned that the Old Town is turning into a fairground, because the temporary buildings that are shutting down on the promenade on the Slovenian coast are being moved to the oldest core of Budva.

He reminded that in November they had a meeting with the President of the Municipality, where they presented the five-point initiative.

"The first was that, as the promenade is closing down due to the construction of a hotel on the Slovenian coast, these temporary facilities are being moved away. Now there is a big blow to the Old Town. According to our estimation, you will have ten new establishments with fast food in the Old Town this year - selling pizzas, hamburgers, burgers. This is unacceptable for the Old Town. Unfortunately, the Municipality does not have a strategy. We proposed to them to limit the issuance of those permits, let's say five fast food establishments and that's it. However, they promised to fix it, but nothing has come of it. This year, the Old Town will turn into a fairground. We have pointed out these problems, but there are no complaints from the authorities", stressed Balabušić.