Representative of the Kovren Local Community Momčilo Kojović claims that the President of the Municipality of Bijelo Polje, Petar Smolović, is obstructing the implementation of projects for asphalting local roads Tomaševo-Sokolac and Kovren-Gorice in the Vraneška Valley and that he has been "waving" for years about the construction of the regional road Sljepač most-Pljevlja, while the roads to the villages are in a catastrophic state.
President Smolović said that Kojović's claims that there was any obstruction were not true and that it was not true that the Municipality did not invest in Vraneš.
The value of these two projects is one million and 70 thousand euros and they are financed from the budget of Montenegro through the item "Construction of local infrastructure", it is important for several villages through which it passes, which depend almost exclusively on agriculture.
Kojović and the residents of Gorice claim that the main reason for the obstruction is simply that there are no DPS voters in that area and that, if the injustices are not corrected, they will soon organize protests.
Kojović and the residents of Gorice are outraged by the behavior of the municipal leaders, especially after Smolović's statement in the local parliament that the municipal proposal for the distribution of local infrastructure projects in Bijelo Polje, submitted to the Government for the purposes of drafting the republican budget, is "fair and evenly distributed throughout the territory of the Municipality", and in particular, that the same proposal was designed based on consultations with the local community councils.
"Of the six proposed road routes, none are on the 37-kilometer route from Ribarevina, through the Vraneška Valley to the border with Pljevlja (which is more than 30 percent of the territory of the municipality of Bijelo Polje). And the proposed routes are Godijevo-Kradenik, Goduša-Azanje and Korita-Ličine (the Lozna route towards Korita) and Kanje-Kanjski most, Orahovica and Dobrinje (all of the Kanje local communities). When we learned about this proposal, the Kovren local community, through its authorized representative and the Vraneš Citizens' Association, subsequently proposed the Tomaševo-Sokolac, Pavino Polje-Grab (the largest village in Montenegro by area) and Kovren-Gorice road routes to the parliamentary budget committee. The budget included the road routes for Sokolac and Kovren," said Kojović.
He claims that no MZ Council was consulted regarding the proposal that the mayor sent to the Government and it is not true that the MZ Councils of Tomaševo, Pavino Polje and Kovren are against what was adopted in the budget of Montenegro. The MZ Council of Kovren has not been held for the last seven years and no one has ever contacted or consulted the members of the Council on this issue. Therefore, they claim, the statements of President Smolović are not true.
Kojović also said that on May 6, representatives of Gorice met with the Secretary of the Secretariat for Construction in Bijelo Polje, Mersudin Hajdarpašić, regarding the Kovren-Gorice road paving project, to obtain information and offer assistance.
"At the meeting, we received information that representatives of the Secretariat visited all road routes, conducted surveys and collected all the data necessary for the development of projects, and that the projects are in the development phase with the appropriate Design Agency," Kojović pointed out.
Smolović: The priority is rural residents, not weekenders
Petar Smolović told "Vijesti" that the agreement between the Ministry of Public Works and the Municipality is currently being harmonized in order to harmonize the amendment requests of MPs and the requests of citizens through local communities as representatives of citizens, which differ in some local communities.
He pointed out that the claim that there has been no investment in Vranes for decades is not true. "The 36-kilometer regional highway through the Vranes Valley from Slijepče Most to Vrulja alone cost more than 35 million euros. These local communities are also accessed through this road," he said.
As for rural roads, in the last few years the Municipality has paved 5,5 kilometers in that region. Every year, in six local communities in the Vraneška Valley (Tomaševo, Pavino Polje, Kovren, Galica, Potrk) almost 85.000 euros are invested in filling and maintaining roads, and in each local community, an average of about 10 to 15 thousand euros are invested annually (MZ Tomaševo 15.000, MZ Pavino Polje, 15.000 euros, MZ Grab-Kičava 14.000 euros, MZ Potrk 10.000 euros, MZ Galica 15.000 and MZ Kovren 15.000).
"Those who mention voters should know that unfortunately the emigration of the population from the north is large. This bad trend cannot be stopped by political rhetoric, but by work and infrastructure projects on the ground. Unfortunately, the most vocal are the weekenders who live in Podgorica. That is why I am asking that the demands of the local community and the locals who live there be respected," he said, adding that the claim that only roads in places where DPS voters are present have been proposed for financing from the republican budget is also not true, as evidenced by a letter to the state requesting asphalting for all regions in Bijelo Polje, and equally.
Smolović said that out of 19 kilometers, six were requested for Vraneš, which is 26 percent, which is more than a quarter, even though that region has under 5.000 inhabitants, which is 10 percent of Bijelo Polje.
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