Water terminal - a complete failure

The so-called temporary facility of the Tivat Airport's water terminal, which JP Morsko built well without valid legal procedures, based on the Government's decision from May, turned out to be a complete failure.

Pompously announced as a life-saving solution that will affect the reduction of congestion in the road transfer of passengers arriving and departing from the Tivat airport by plane, the temporary water terminal has served a total of only ten passengers in the past month and a half since it was officially opened.

The Airport of Montenegro (ACG) could not answer the question of "Vijesti" how many air passengers have been transferred through the water terminal of Tivat Airport since its opening in mid-July until today, claiming that it is not within their jurisdiction.

"For the number of passengers of the water terminal, please contact the authorities. We would like to remind you that the ACG agreed with their colleagues on the procedures for accepting and transferring passengers from Terminal 2 to the water terminal. After exiting the terminal building, passengers are directed to Terminal 2, where a hotel vehicle is waiting for them to take them to the water terminal. In this way, vehicles with passengers do not enter the main road Budva-Tivat. ACG installed a ramp in front of Terminal 2 and in that way we regulated the entry/exit of vehicles", the management of the state airport company told "Vijesta".

This is what ACG claims now, although on July 12, the company announced that "only a week after visiting the location of the future water terminal within Tivat Airport, and with the aim of improving the tourist offer and developing a multimodal traffic model, the Airports of Montenegro concluded transfer protocols passengers with six companies, which means that their guests will be able to travel by boat from the airport to the hotel and back".

"The companies with which the protocol was signed are: Adriatic Marinas doo - Tivat, One & Only resort - Herceg Novi, Mamula hotel operating company doo - Tivat, Portonovi resort - Herceg Novi, Jadran doo - Hotel "Heritage Grand" - Perast and Hotel resorts Luštica Devealopment AD - Tivat. This protocol defines the organization of the reception and transportation of passengers, mutual obligations and authorizations, the subject of cooperation, the transport route and other issues of importance for the implementation of this protocol", announced on July 12 the management of ACG, which today, despite this, claims that they are not aware of the number of passengers who have passed through the water terminal in the past month and a half.

"Vijesti" did not receive any response to the questions about traffic and the results of the water terminal's work from the Maritime Administration, which is supposed to manage this temporary facility that was built with the funds of that state-owned company. According to unofficial information from "Vijesti", only a dozen passengers passed through this facility, in which Morsko well invested several tens of thousands of euros and which is functioning despite the fact that, according to the opinion of the Civil Aviation Agency of Montenegro (ACV), such a facility should not be in that place.

Morski dobr did not answer who is the official operator of the newly established temporary facility at the Blato location, near the threshold of runway 14/32 of the Tivat airport. On the information board placed at the water terminal, it says only that it is "Mrčevac-Kukoljina pier - mooring" without mentioning who is its official and user-manager. According to what was previously heard from that company, Morsko dobro was supposed to manage and manage that facility, in which that company, despite its 2022 Program for the use of funds of that JP adopted by the Government, invested several tens of thousands of euros.

All this was done in a zone that, according to air traffic rules, must be free of objects because it belongs to the most sensitive area of ​​the approach surface for runway threshold 14, i.e. the departure surface from runway threshold 32 of Tivat Airport. In the end, with such a frivolous approach of the Government and the Maritime Dobr, a temporary facility of supposed great importance for Montenegrin tourism was created, which provides a caricature image because it is located right behind the sign indicating that the area is a danger zone from the so-called jet blast (the impact of the exhaust of jet engines of airplanes taking off from runway 14).

All these restrictions and potential risks for the safety of aviation operations at Tivat airport, i.e. for users of the water terminal in the jet blast zone, were warned in time by the Civil Aviation Agency of Montenegro (ACV), which, according to the Air Traffic Act, recognized as a regulatory body in the field of air traffic, that is, the supreme aviation authority, without whose approval nothing can be done that has an impact on safety, that is, the safety of aviation operations in the country.

"In accordance with our powers, and based on a detailed expert analysis, we are of the opinion that any construction or activities in the immediate vicinity of operational areas, of any airport, must be reduced to a minimum, in order to give priority to the safe performance of aircraft operations, especially in conditions of emergency procedures, so as not to endanger the safety of passengers, aircraft and equipment. Considering that parts of the infrastructure of the water terminal are planned to be built in the area of ​​the protective surfaces of Tivat Airport (which will increase the presence of passengers, vehicles and accompanying equipment), we believe that the above may have a negative impact on air traffic, as well as on the users of the water terminal on In this context, it is necessary to implement protective measures at Tivat Airport, so that the new infrastructure does not affect the safety of air operations and the safety of passengers using the water terminal", ACV told "Vijesti" noting that they did not give formal approval for the construction and operation of such a facility. temporary facility.

The agency has previously stipulated that vessels whose height is higher than three meters above the sea surface cannot dock here. since the location is located within the narrowest contact zone of runway 14 of Tivat airport and "breaks through" its so-called horizontal transition planes. Morsko Dom has already breached this restriction by planting several tree saplings that are already over three meters high in relation to sea level, and are located even closer to the threshold of Runway 14 than is the case with the mooring pontoon on which vessels lower than that can dock. limit. The construction works on the cleaning and landscaping of the cadastral plot 1261/2 KO Mrčevac, financed by Morsko Dobro, began without the company receiving the necessary and required urban planning and technical conditions from the Secretariat for Spatial Planning of the Municipality of Tivat, nor from the relevant Ministry of Ecology. of spatial planning and urbanism, considering that the location is covered by the current State Study of the location "Tivat Airport".

Planted seedlings that dried up due to carelessness

In the meantime, a parking lot, a turnstile for cars, a sanitary facility, urban furniture were installed, a small metal kiosk in which, in all probability, there should be workers who run the water terminal, and in which there is no one yet, and a horticulturally landscaped area with the planting of new ornamental plants and trees.

However, due to the obvious carelessness of the person managing the "terminal", more than half of those seedlings have dried up in the meantime, because it seems that no one is taking care of this temporary object, although almost two months ago, they toured it triumphantly and as a great move for Montenegrin tourism praised Prime Minister Dritan Abazović (URA), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Capital Investments Ervin Ibrahimović (BS), Minister of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism Ana Novaković Đurović (URA) and Minister of Economic Development and Tourism Goran Đurović (URA). In the company of the prime minister and ministers at that time were also the heads of the Maritime Property Mladen Mikijelj and Blažo Rađenović, and members of the Board of Directors of ACG Nebojša Đoković and Eldin Dobardžić.

As it was said at the time, Morsko dobro and ACG will jointly manage the pier from which passengers will be able to be picked up only by shippers who have already responded to Morsko dobro's ad. To transport passengers from the terminal building of the airport to the pier in Kukoljina, as it was heard at the time, the internal road of the airport, which was previously used by taxi drivers to access the terminal, will be used. Just for the payment of the previous user of this temporary location, the Tivat company "Newtech LTD", and the purchase of its equipment that that company had already installed at this place, Morsko dobro, in accordance with the Government's conclusion from the end of May this year, invested 24.360 euros. This was followed by other investments by the company worth tens of thousands of euros in the concreting of the plateau up to the pier, the installation of electrical infrastructure, the construction of sanitary facilities, parking and turnstiles, as well as horticultural landscaping and the installation of urban furniture.