A local road planned in the Bar settlement of Bjeliši is set to pass over eight houses whose owners have been opposing and protesting in recent months. Work has recently begun on the excavation of a neighboring plot of land where buildings are planned to be built, for the purposes of which the road will allegedly be built, leaving the residents of Bjeliši even more fearful about how long they will have their homes.
Excavators and trucks have been working almost every day for a week next to their houses, no one has informed them of anything, no one has visited them or spoken to them.
This was told to "Vijesti" by Danka Jokanović, a single mother of three sons who has been warning the public for months and seeking help and understanding from the relevant institutions. She is one of about thirty residents of the street in Bjeliši who protested in front of the Municipality.
The Bar local government then declared itself incompetent, saying that the decision-making power was in the hands of the Ministry of Urbanism, Spatial Planning and State Property (MDUP), headed by Slaven Radunović.
The Mayor of the Municipality, Dušan Raičević, said that these citizens have his support, that he was at a meeting in the relevant ministry, which he said was not productive and that no concrete conclusions were reached.
"The trucks are working, the terrain is being prepared for construction. We are afraid because in November they told us that the road would be built in the next few months and no one has come to tell us anything concrete, no one has sent us anything or informed us. We are afraid. We know that this is a project of public interest and that our complaints do not delay its implementation and every day we expect someone to come to evict us," said Jokanović.
During a tour of the area, "Vijesti" found trucks on a neighboring plot, next to the houses of families from Bjeliše, and part of it is fenced off and being prepared for some kind of work, but there is still no construction sign with specific information.
Jokanović has mostly received silence, ignoring or shifting responsibility from those in charge. She recently received a letter signed by Minister Radunović stating that the Municipality is solely responsible for this expropriation case as a party to the proceedings and that it can withdraw from it.
On behalf of the ministry he heads, he made himself available for all assistance within the framework of legal possibilities.
"Everyone is shifting responsibility onto each other. Some say that others are responsible, others say that the first is responsible and so on. We simply don't know what else to do. Everyone recognized the problem and everyone supported us, but no one has done anything concrete, while we are waiting for the excavators," Jokanović emphasized.
The Jokanovićs, they said, were offered 700 euros per square meter for the house and 251 euros per square meter of land, which they consider a bizarre and unacceptable price in the city center, and they announce that they will ask for at least double in court, since this is a forced sale. As an illustration of this, they state that the house tax decision states that the average market price per square meter of their property is 1.915 euros.
For the purchase of properties over which the road is to cross in the Bjeliši settlement, which locals oppose, the Municipality offered Novak Đurović 49 euros less than he paid for part of his land in 2017, and the market price was determined in relation to 2021.
His lawyer Milić Mirović told "Vijesti" that the Municipality purchased a piece of land from Đurović in 2017 at a price of 300 euros per square meter, and is now offering 251 euros.
The Ministry is aware of the problem of the Jokanović family, which has previously addressed the Ministry on several occasions, which ultimately resulted in organizing a meeting at the Ministry, which was also attended by members of the Jokanović family, a source from that government department told the newspaper.
They pointed out that the currently valid planning document, the Detailed Urban Plan "Topolica IV", was adopted by the Bar Municipal Assembly at its session in late December 2013, and that it planned a road through the Jokanović family's properties, as well as several properties of other families.
Considering the numerous problems resulting from poor planning solutions, at its session on February 27, 2020, the Government adopted a Decision on the development of Amendments and Supplements to the DUP "Topolica IV", with the proviso that activities on its development were halted in 2021.
That decision provided for a ban on construction in the area in question, which expired in August 2022.
"As this is a valid planning document, the Municipality of Bar has previously begun activities to implement the planning document, and regarding the construction of the disputed road, it has prepared the Main Project, revised it and registered the construction, after which the expropriation procedure was initiated," the MDUP stated.
A meeting with Raičević was held at the ministry at the end of November to discuss all currently possible solutions to the problem. At the meeting, it was pointed out that from the perspective of planning documentation, it would not be rational to undertake any activities at this time, according to them, primarily introducing a construction ban and invalidating the planning document.
Representatives of the Municipality of Bar were informed that the drafting of a new Law on Spatial Planning, which envisages the decentralization of spatial planning, i.e. determines the competence of local self-government in the development and adoption of local planning documents, is in the final phase.
"In the meantime, the Law on Spatial Planning was adopted, which entered into force on March 5, 2025. In the context of new legal solutions, the Ministry will consider further actions under this planning document," the government department concluded.
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