Although the residents of Krašić, especially the owners of weekend houses that were legally built several decades ago in accordance with the then valid plans above the coastal road, have been complaining for years about the devastation of the coast of that part of the Tivat Bay and its practical closure to the general public, the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property (MDUP) is avoiding answering questions from "Vijesti" about what the state has done so far to prevent further devastation of this area.
The prosecutor's office has not explained whether or what action they have taken so far in response to the criminal reports filed with them due to the controversial events in Krašići.
Due to the enormous construction on the narrow coastal strip between the sea and the lower edge of the road that runs through Krašići, enabled by the controversial State Study of the Sector 29 - Krašići location from 2009, this once beautiful part of the Tivat Bay coast has turned into a real urban horror and an overdeveloped favela. Privileged individuals, among whom many foreign but also domestic citizens are associated with the previous DPS regime, have been allowed to build villas on the coast literally with foundations in the sea, to fill and concrete the natural hydrovital and pebble coast, to create illegal piers and private beaches. These days, with the construction of a few more new "tourist villas" on the coast, the last two places from which those passing by the Krašići - Petrovići road could still see the sea are being closed.
No response from MDUP
The construction of the "lungo mare" pedestrian path on the coast, which was started several years ago by the Municipality of Tivat and which, according to the 2009 DSL, was supposed to provide public access to the sea, passing in front of the villas built in the meantime on the coastal edge, was stopped at the initial stage because it was thwarted by legal proceedings initiated against the Municipality as an investor by some of the owners of luxury villas "threatened" by the construction of the "lungo mare" promenade.
The Ministry of Interior Affairs, headed by Minister Slaven Radunović (NSD), did not respond to a request from "Vijesti" for that relevant state body to comment on the current state of the area covered by DSL Sector 29 - Krašići, especially on the coast itself from Stari Krašići to Petrovići.
The MDUP did not answer the question of what the competent state authorities have undertaken so far to implement and implement key contents envisaged by the still valid DSL, primarily the construction of the "lungo mare" pedestrian path, or the protection of the corridor of that path from the illegal construction of other structures.
One of these facilities, the swimming pool of a villa whose investor was the company "Adria bau", partially fell into the path of the promenade, but to this day the pool has not been demolished, even though the construction of the promenade has been stopped for almost five years due to a dispute between the Municipality and this company.
When asked by "Vijesti" from Radunović's MDUP what the Urban Planning and Construction Inspection, which is part of that body, was undertaking in the area covered by the Krašići DSL between January 1, 2023 and May 1 of this year, and what the concrete results of those measures and actions were, they also did not provide a detailed answer.
"We would like to inform you that seven inspections were carried out at the specified location in the requested period, of which two buildings were ordered to be demolished," the Ministry's PR service told us, without specifying which buildings were to be demolished, nor why the state-owned company "Zaštita prostora Crne Gore", which was established precisely to implement decisions on the demolition of illegally constructed buildings issued by the Construction Inspection, has not yet brought its excavators to Krašići.
Numerous reports from residents of Maslinjak
The latest example of controversial construction in Krašići are the new “tourist villas” being built on plot 871/1 KO Krašići by the investor, the company “Mielle Marine” from Tivat, with a total gross construction area of 601 square meters. The residents of the nearby weekend village of Maslinjak, because they believe that the construction of this facility has devastated one of the last publicly accessible beaches and swimming areas in the area, have filed numerous reports with various inspections in the past few months and have contacted several addresses in the local and state administration. It is interesting that in November 2023, the Chief State Architect of Tivat issued approval to another company that then appeared as the applicant for construction on this plot, for a conceptual design of a facility with a significantly smaller gross construction area of 397,4 square meters.
Now there is an information board on the construction site that says that a building with a gross construction area of 601 square meters is being built, although that board also states the decision on granting consent from the city architect, who in November 2023 "approved" the construction of about 40 percent of the smaller building. However, the Ministry of Interior Affairs, whose Building Inspection is responsible, the Tivat Municipal Inspection forwarded this case to, claims that everything is in order.
"Regarding the cad. par. no. 817/1 KO Krašići, Tivat Municipality, an inspection was carried out and the elimination of irregularities in the completed state in relation to the revised main project was ordered, whereby the irregularities did not relate to the dimensions or number of floors, but were of minor importance," Minister Radunović's department told "Vijesti".
Because of everything that has been happening in this and a number of other previous cases of controversial or completely illegal construction in Krašići for years, a group of residents of the Maslinjak weekend settlement have filed numerous reports, and they have also written to the Ombudsman, the competent inspectorates, the Municipality of Tivat, Morski dobr, the relevant ministries, and even to Prime Minister Milojko Spajić.
Dissatisfied citizens who believe they have been harmed by being denied the right to freely use the coast and beaches have also initiated proceedings to assess the constitutionality of the controversial Krašići DSL before the Constitutional Court. However, so far, according to the claims of lawyer Novica Knežević, who represents them, apart from several messages from local authorities that they are not competent or have the jurisdiction to act in the case of the construction of permanent structures within the scope of state planning documents, they have only received silence and general ignorance.
Letter to Prime Minister Spajić
"We never received any answers from the ministries, inspectorates and ombudsmen because, if they wanted to do their job, I believe I would not have to write you this letter and ask that these problems, which have accumulated over the past 15 years, be tried to be resolved," reads, among other things, the letter that lawyer Knežević sent to Prime Minister Spajić.
Knežević and his colleagues, who represent, as they say, "the disenfranchised citizens of Krašić who are in a fight with the institutions of the state of Montenegro" due to the urban planning and construction horror on that part of the Tivat coast, have forwarded to "Vijesti" extensive material collected over the past ten years, which consists of all the reports they submitted to the authorities in a timely manner regarding the events in Krašići, the (in)action of the competent authorities and numerous examples of multiple violations of the law by the investors of the largest number of facilities being built on the coastal edge, or the competent authorities in the state who did not prevent them from doing so.
Among them is a criminal complaint filed by dissatisfied citizens with the state prosecutor's office in the middle of last year against unidentified persons on suspicion that they committed the criminal offenses of "illegal occupation of land", "theft of protected natural assets", "construction of a facility without registration and documentation", "construction of a complex engineering facility without a building permit" and "environmental pollution". As they say, no one has yet reacted to it.
Responses from the Kotor Public Prosecutor's Office are awaited.
"Vijesti" is awaiting answers from the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Kotor to the questions whether the prosecutor's office, in the period from January 1, 2023 to May 1, 2025, undertook any activities within its jurisdiction regarding events in the area covered by DSL Sector 29 - Krašići, bearing in mind that citizens from that area have contacted the prosecutor's office on several occasions in the past, and the media have reported on multiple violations of the law and valid planning documents by both investors of facilities being built in that area, and by the competent state authorities who did not prevent them from these illegal activities.
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