Vice President of the Municipality of Mojkovac Ivan Ashanin reacted to the text of the Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro "There are no skiers, and valuable equipment is falling apart", published on March 19 in "Vijesti", about the current situation with the Ski Center "Žarski-Cmiljača".
"Citations from the text, mentioning the Special Purpose Spatial Plan (PPPN) of Bjelasica and Komovi from 2010, the beginning of the Ski Center 'Žarski' project, the Municipality of Mojkovac (then and now as it looks at the development project of Ski Resort Žarski-Mojkovac), etc. it has a lot of accuracy. However, there are substitutions of theses due to the lack of certain information or the influence of some private interests from the neighborhood, without the author obviously being aware of them.
When the new local government in Mojkovac was formed a year ago, in which I am the departmental vice president for investments and development, number one in the list of priority projects was the continuation of the work on the "Žarski" ski resort and the merger of the "Žarski" and "Cmiljača" ski resorts on the territory of Bijelo Polje . By the joining process alone, this ski resort includes 25 km of slopes. According to the opinion and assessment of many and the greatest experts and champions in this sport from the former SFRY, Boris Strel, Bojan Križaj, prof. Voj Tomić (one of the directors of the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo) this ski resort is unique in many ways.
The fact that the corona caused a certain halt to this project, as well as the transition of power of the previous government. In this regard, I can freely say that with the state budget of the current Government adopted in the Parliament of Montenegro, as well as the recent visit of Prime Minister Mojkovac Dritan Abazović together with five ministers, put an end to some dilemmas about the continuation of the project and thwarted some private interests and influences from the neighborhood. We managed to do a lot in a short time so that this construction season we can continue the work we started last construction season with full momentum.
A lot of work was done in the previous year regarding project documentation, continuation of expropriation. Intensive work is being done on the project of installing the third cable car that will connect Mojkovac and Bijelo Polje. The remaining third of the trails on Bjelogrivac will be continued and completed this year at the "Žarski" ski resort.
Some contracts regarding power transmission lines have already been terminated, project documentation for the same is being finalized, in order to integrate and solve various problems related to property relations, as well as problems of a technical nature. These days, several projects were created and completed around transformer stations for two cable cars in the "Žarski" base station. Also, the road infrastructure on the part of Mojkovac has been completed in a percentage of over 50 percent, where the main part of the work has been done in terms of earthworks, concrete works and constructions.
Also, the bridge over the Tara, according to the director of the Traffic Administration, Mr Vuksanović it starts at the beginning of the construction season, because all project or tender documentation as well as other preparatory works have been completed. So, everything is ready to begin, this bridge is planned to connect the main road with the regional road towards Lubnice-Berane, and at the same time, this road is half way to the "Žarski" ski resort.
Tenders have been announced and soon several more projects will enter the final phase, including the road and the water supply of the base station in Žarski, as well as many other things related to the connection of the Smiljača and Žarski roads - the parking lot. The local administration, together with the relevant Ministry of Finance and the state commission, is working to resolve property relations for the installation of the mentioned third cable car - a six-seater, and we hope that we will work together with the citizens for general satisfaction. I would like to mention that about 30 million have been invested so far.
This year's state budget provides about 10 million for "Cmiljača" and "Žarski", along with a cable car worth six million, which connects these two ski resorts, while the total investment is worth 15-16 million. It is up to us, the local administrations of Mojkovac and Bijelo Polje, to help the Capital Projects Administration with the realization of this joint project, with which we have excellent communication, as well as the director of the Administration, Mr. Esimo Bećović, where you don't wait for an appointment, but make an appointment by phone, and many jobs end up like that. The Ministry of Economic Development has recently created an operational team, and the Ministry of Finance has also delegated a state secretary Milos Medenica to coordinate this project.
Of course, the Mojkovac local government organized itself earlier and started this project. There is sure to be an omission, but everyone will have their share of the subsequent cost from the contractor to the investor. I think that some people want to present it for tendentious reasons, in order to present that this project will not come to fruition and so that some private profiteers will profit. We are telling them from the local administration of Mojkovac, as well as Bijelo Polje, that this project is important for the north and for Montenegro, and this winter season has shown that this project is necessary and important in order to relieve the entire infrastructure of Kolašin and the Ski Resort of Montenegro. Emphasizing, I confirm that this year also in Bjelogrivec and Turjak, i.e. the "Žarsko" and "Cmiljači" ski resorts have by far the most snow in the region, due to their disposition of north and naturally oriented ski slopes. When everything is in operation, the extension of the winter season at this future ski resort will certainly last for an extended period of 15 days, which is not my opinion but that of the world's experts since a long time ago when this idea was born 30 years ago.
In the last part of the text, it is mentioned that the municipal Agency for Investments and Development of Mojkovac opposed this project, and the current local administration sees it as a development opportunity. At that time, as the director of the Agency, when it was about the Special Purpose Spatial Plan (PPPN) of Bjelasica and Komovi from 2010, I took part in commenting on the project that, through the PPPN, not to plan and resort to such an urbanization with 7000-8000 beds. The strategy was and remains the same, that huge spatial potentials for the construction of hotel facilities are created in the city of Mojkovac itself, and that such a PPPN for Bjelasica be revised, and not that, as stated in the text, the municipality of Mojkovac or its Agency was against the ski resort project already against mass construction in Bjelasica. We will now make certain decisions in this direction. We don't want to turn Mojkovac into undeveloped Raska and Brus, and we are building Kopaonik in Bjelasica.
And I say to the profiteers: the state will never again be a 'cash cow' where it invests money, and extra-profiteers do not want to invest but to skim off the cream, i.e. to seize the profits for themselves. We don't need such, but healthy investors who are already coming forward and expressing a certain interest. The country showed its strength with several decisions of this Government, returning the ferries, the Ironworks, the Port, the Electric Industry, etc. We hope that it will continue in the north, and when you come to the north on the highway for that reason, I recommend to the Government that they stay in Kolašin and beyond.
With thanks to the authors of the CIN text, and in the absence of sufficient information, i.e. received and viewed from one angle - the center, probably not knowing the intentions of those centers that they are not benevolent neither towards Mojkovac nor towards Bijelo Polje, nor towards the citizens of Montenegro, you nevertheless encouraged and warned about some failures that were evident in this project. At the beginning, so that we who are doing it now - continue, do not make similar mistakes. We thank you and are available to encourage everyone through the media to complete this important project as soon as possible. I will repeat my thesis - 'A government that does not complete this project in 2025-2026 is not a government that should have the support of either Mojkovac or Bijelo Polje, or even the north'. I will feel personal responsibility if this project is not implemented, but in that case the public will also be informed. I know that won't happen.
Bjelasica is one of the few mountains that has such beauty, it relies on five municipalities that are connected by a highway, it represents the white sea in the north, investment in winter and summer tourist infrastructure should be devised in turn. And with the development of the ski resort on Bjelasica, we are becoming attractive for mountain and rural tourism, which has become more and more pronounced lately, especially after the corona virus. So that the north becomes a destination for year-round tourism through this development potential, which the Government recognized and allocated significant funds for both Bjelasica and Hajla. With the already recognizable Durmitor, well-connected infrastructure, the north is opening up and changing economically, and local governments will become self-sustaining".
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