The government plans to lease a building in Donja Gorica owned by the company "Čelebić" for the next two months for student accommodation, and during that time the State Property Administration should find a permanent solution, confirmed to "Vijesta" from several unofficial sources.
This should be discussed at the Government session today, and according to the newsroom's information, the two-month lease of the building should cost around 50.000 euros.
At the beginning of this week, the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation and the company "Čelebić" mutually terminated the contract for the sale of that building, after that department made a decision to cancel the tender announced this summer.
"The mutual termination of the contract was signed on November 5, and the company 'Čelebić' waived the right to appeal," says one of the sources.
The contract, worth 6,3 million euros, was signed on October 21, and according to "Vijesti" information, Minister Anđela Jakšić-Stojanović requested the opinion of the institution of the Protector of Property and Legal Interests on the same day.
"The defender stated in his opinion, among other things, that the purchase of the home should have been carried out by the department in charge of state property and that this legal work is exempt from the Law on Public Procurement, so he indicated to the Ministry of Education that it should terminate the contract," claims the "Vijesti" source.
Article 14 of the Law on Public Procurement provides that this regulation does not apply to "the purchase or lease of land, construction facilities or other immovable property as well as the rights related to them".
According to data from the electronic public procurement system (CeJN), the estimated value of the public procurement tendered this summer was almost three million euros, with a note that it is a "value determined for the year 2024".
"...If the value of the object exceeds the subject value due to its size and capacity, the offer will not be rejected, but will be forwarded to the Government and the Ministry of Finance for further decision-making, on the eventual assumption of the obligation to provide additional funds in the following years," reads the description of the public budget purchases from July 19.
Only the company "Čelebić", owned by Tomislav Čelebić, who, along with former president Milo Đukanović, is one of the founders of the private University of Donja Gorica, in the immediate vicinity of which there is a building that will most likely be leased by the Government by the end of the year, responded to that tender.
In mid-February, the government considered the first information from the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation regarding the lack of space in dormitories for students in Podgorica, in order to give the green light for renting or buying the building in mid-April.
The government did this, it was announced earlier, on the proposal of the Interdepartmental Working Group, which, in addition to representatives of the MPNI, also included representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property, the Administration for Capital Projects and the Administration for State Property.
The "Vijesti" source states that all interdepartmental working groups, as well as commissions, were in agreement with every step of the procedure, including the conclusion of the contract.
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