"I don't know how the authorities will solve this problem, but I know how we will fight. First, we will fight through legal means and if we have grounds for criminal charges, we will file them, and all the documentation we have collected from 2016 until today, and in which there is illogic, at that moment we will hand it over to the prosecution. If the legal way does not bear fruit, then we will fight with rebellion, because we will not allow anyone to come with excavators and enter people's yards. I cannot believe and I do not want to accept that is an investor more important than all of us," said Aleksandar Mrvošević from Nikšić, a resident of Živka Nikolić Street, which has been in the center of public attention for months.
The locals, 46 of them, claim that the reconstruction of the street is planned to be done contrary to the Detailed Urban Plan (DUP) and that the existing route is planned to be moved in order to allow the investor, the company "Grading", which is building a building in the mentioned street, to build a parking lot, while part of the land would be expropriated for the locals.
"If this street is the public interest of the Municipality, I guess the public interest of the citizens who live in this street is also important, not the interest of the investors. The degree of construction of this building and what the investor owns is less than what this building owns, so the upgraded floor and double attic are beyond the solution. In order to finish it and meet the investor, it is planned to relocate the street by arrogantly confiscating property and destroying the living space," said Mrvošević.
He reminds that the locals submitted to the Municipality a request that the street be of a calming nature, and that months ago they addressed the presidents of the Municipality and the Municipal Assembly (SO), as well as all the secretariats, in order to find out whether the investor has a contract stating that part of the street his.
"Everyone assumes that the authority lies with someone else and in the end they all return us to the president of the SO, and I think his authority for this is the least. We received an answer from the Directorate for Property that there is no contract on the purchase of the street, and only from the cadastre we didn't get an answer", Mrvošević pointed out and showed the journalists the answers of the authorities.
Tenants claim that the local administration, in connection with the reconstruction of the street, is calling for amendments to the DUP "Centar I", although, as they said, the DUP was not adopted, let alone its amendments.
"We have been here for over 150 years and I think this is the oldest street in Nikšić, over 350 years old. The fact that the street is being moved for the Montex intersection and cul-de-sac is nonsense. This is all for the sake of investors. He built sidewalks on the state street and now they want to take four and a half meters from my yard, on one side, and four meters, on the other, so that he can get urban planning conditions. The director of urban planning said that there is no chance that he will get urban planning conditions for this building. That's why it's being expanded and things are being done here," said Predrag Zeković.
He pointed out that he suggested to the local administration that instead of a part of the yard, they should buy his entire property, because if the street is built the way "they plan", he and his family "will have no life".
"When I move and the half-meter gate opens, I lose half the yard, my son and I can't park the car, nor can we put ten meters of wood there. This street was built, but as some investor started building houses and apartments, the street was also destroyed. The cadastre states that the width of the road was 7,70 meters, but now it is maybe only three meters. There are potholes on the left and right and people fell into the potholes and broke cars. Well, the inspector used to come and he can't count the floors. He entered only the construction permit in the minutes. As soon as we exhaust the legal means, we will block the street," said Zeković.
According to Nebojsa Gorašević, the authorities are trying to make it difficult for the locals to get the data.
"What we found out is becoming even more interesting than we thought it would be." Here we have a planning document analysis according to the derived state. One of the cadastral plots was only later included in the composition of the urban plot, and there is a request from the investor from 2022 to additionally purchase another plot. It is a part of Živka Nikolić Street, for the purpose of completing the urban plot. "Someone came up with the idea to build a building and later to file the documentation according to those needs," Gorašević said.
He claims that the construction permit, which was issued to "Grading" in 2018, implied that the building must be completed in two years, as well as that three years after the expiration of its validity, "someone made a decision to extend its validity".
"This is a story that goes beyond our ability to fight it, but it is a perfect opportunity for the new government to show that it cares about citizens and the law. I invite them and the opposition to start an election campaign and to solve the problem that exists in this street, and in terms of the healing of society and real changes, it would be useful to see who is to blame for all this and that someone should answer," said Gorašević.
Božović: This is not a street, but a passage that is an integral part of the urban plot
The owner of the company "Grading", Milivoje Božović, claims that he performs the works according to the DUP, and that all the necessary documentation is with his legal representative.
"I am not the one who works for the DUP, but local governments and other institutions of the state. It was only through him that I received the necessary documentation according to which we carried out the works, within the boundaries of the urban plot".
He claims that he did not violate the number of floors, but that everything was done according to the revised main project, as well as that the republican inspection monitored all the works, from the foundation to the sloping roof slabs, and that it did not find any irregularities.
"In 2019, 'Grading' submitted a request for the completion of the urban plot. This is not a street but a passage and it is an integral part of the urban plot. In the cadastre, this part of the plot of 179 square meters is registered as the yard of this residential building. We are waiting for an assessment to buy it and it will become the property of the company that made the request and performed all the necessary actions according to the law," claims Božović.
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