The Kolašin opposition considers the Government's decision to allocate a million euros equally to 10 municipalities in the north from the income generated from economic citizenship. In the "Together we are building Kolašin" movement, they remind us that the vast majority of projects from the economic citizenship program are implemented in that city, and that the local government is obliged to allocate multi-million sums for the communal equipment of the sites where they are being built.
According to data from March this year, nine luxury hotels are being built in Kolašin, as part of the economic citizenship project, in locations that are not equipped with communal infrastructure.
"Kolašin, as well as municipalities where there are no projects from the economic citizenship program, received one million euros each. Such a distribution does not make sense, because some municipalities have no obligations at all when it comes to equipping communal infrastructure for facilities that are built within the framework of the economic citizenship program. Kolašin has numerous obligations and multimillion-dollar investments will be necessary to equip the locations where such facilities are built with utilities," says Bojan Zeković, a councilor of the movement.
He made a similar observation at the session of the Municipal Assembly, where the decision was made to rebalance the budget. The rebalancing was necessary precisely because of the million euros allocated from the sub-programme "Assistance to less developed local self-governments from the north for the implementation of capital projects from funds obtained from economic citizenship". In Kolašin, that money was earmarked for the reconstruction of Boško Rašovića Street, where several tourist and residential buildings were built, which until now did not even have the possibility to be connected to the sewage network.
In March of this year, the president of the municipality, Vladimir Martinović, said that multi-million sums are needed for communal infrastructure.
As the Ministry of Finance told "Vijesta", assistance to less developed local self-governments from the north for the implementation of capital projects from funds obtained from economic citizenship is determined in accordance with the law. At the beginning of May, the Government issued a conclusion instructing the Directorate for Capital Projects to conclude contracts with 10 municipalities from the north of Montenegro on the dedicated use of funds allocated through the activities "Assistance to less developed local self-governments from the north for the realization of capital projects from funds obtained from economic citizenship". This referred to Kolašin, Mojkovac, Šavnik, Bijelo Polje, Berane, Andrijevica, Rožaje, Gusinje, Plav and Petnjica.
"The funds raised within the economic citizenship program were distributed in accordance with the law. On the other hand, the allocation of funds from the capital budget is carried out in accordance with the readiness of infrastructure projects and other criteria within the standard, legally prescribed procedure in the process of preparing the annual budget", the department explained to "Vijesta".
As they say, "within the capital budget, which is implemented by the Capital Projects Administration and the Traffic Administration, out of a total of about 202 million euros, it is planned that 70 million will come from dedicated revenues, that is, from revenues obtained from economic citizenship, exclusively for the realization of capital projects in the north of Montenegro".
The Ministry of Finance reminds that the economic citizenship program has ended. However, as they say, if there are any similar programs in the future, "extra attention should be paid to equal distribution among all municipalities".
According to the data of the Investment Agency, from the beginning of the implementation of the economic citizenship program on January 1, 2019 and ending on December 30 of last year, 72,40 million euros were collected from investors for the development of less developed municipalities. That money was not used before, and it was transferred from the account of the Investment Agency to this year's state budget.
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