Documentation is late, MOSI and fields on time

The project documentation for the construction of sports infrastructure at Lug in Kolašin, for which nearly one million euros has been allocated from the state and local budgets, has not yet been revised, so the tender procedure cannot yet be started.

This is what the President of the Municipality said in response to the committee's question Vladimir Martinovic.

Despite this, he promises that the Inter-Municipal Youth Sports Games (MOSI), which should be held in that city in July, will be organized "to the satisfaction of all athletes".

MOSI Kolašin received the ownership at the end of 2019, but so far the construction of no part of the additional sports infrastructure has started.

"I didn't find what is basic, which is a finished revised project on the basis of which we can conduct a tender, so that the sports fields will be built. To this day, the project is not finished, and since 2019 it has been stalling in terms of what should have been done as a prerequisite for the start of implementation. In the meantime, with my colleagues, I did everything to work on that project and speed up the process, because tender procedures are not simple, and MOSI is in July. I promise that the money allocated for sports infrastructure for this year will be spent on what it is intended for. Those fields will be used by all the athletes of Kolašin, but also for the promotion of sports tourism, for which we have unique conditions. I also promise that MOSI will be held in our city to the satisfaction of all participants", said Martinović.

According to him, the local administration is already intensively working on organizational tasks for the event, in which several thousand athletes are expected to participate. The necessary communication with tourism officials and state institutions was made, explained Martinović, in order for Kolašin to justify its role as host in the best possible way.

As it has been known for almost three years that MOSI will be held in Lug, the ownership right over the land on which the courts are to be built was only recently transferred to the municipality. For the past seven years, the ownership of almost 30.000 square meters in the sports zone was owned by the state, because in 2015, the tax debt due to unpaid taxes and contributions was to be offset.

As the former president of the Municipality said at the last session of the Council of Ministers Marta Šćepanović, all that time the local government was paying the tax debt, but the state also had the right of ownership over the plots, which were previously valued at 2,8 million euros. According to Šćepanović, this is one of the main reasons why the sports infrastructure project could not be revised. The transfer of property rights to the Municipality was completed during the time when she was at the head of the executive power, with the support of the current President of the Municipality, while he was a deputy, as announced at the session of the Council of Ministers.

Martinović reminds that 400.000 euros have been provided from the municipal budget for sports infrastructure, and 600.000 euros from the state budget. The money from the state coffers was secured thanks to his amendment to the budget law for this year. Previously, the deputies of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) also tried several times to obtain state support for the construction of sports fields in Lug through amendments. The President of Oština also claims that the money allocated by the state can already be used, because a contract has been signed with the Administration for Capital Projects. As soon as the project is revised, he promises, Martinović will start the tender procedures.

After it became clear that Kolašin would host MOSI, the local self-government said that the city has most of the necessary infrastructure for the event, but that it lacks an athletics track and a beach volleyball court, as well as courts for small sports.