"The pride of sports infrastructure" in Kolašin will be demolished

The Municipality of Kolašin, in cooperation with the State Property Administration, for the first time in many years, has concrete plans for the Youth and Highlanders' Home. Due to years of neglect and disuse, the building is now in a state of disrepair and cannot be used for any purpose.

As the Municipality Manager told "Vijesti" Radovan Raso Puletic, the plan is to demolish that building, and then build a new one. He explains that these are plans for now, and they need to be preceded by a procedure, which has already been discussed with the Mayor. Petkom Bakić, including Koča Đurišić, Director of the State Property Administration and Marko Lukačević, Head of the Department for General, Legal and Personnel Affairs in that administration.

As Puletić explains, first of all, the existing plot on which the Youth and Highlanders' Home is located should be expanded, that is, merged with the neighboring one. Then, through legal solutions, it should be possible to build a new facility, significantly larger in area, meeting the conditions for it to be included in the capital budget as a facility of public interest.

"Our plan is to prepare a study this year on deleting the building, demolishing and merging the existing plot on which the Youth Center is located with the new plot. Such a solution is envisaged in the new Spatial Urban Plan (PUP). The plan is also to build a building that will have the capacity to accommodate the entire sports team. I am very grateful to the Mayor, as well as Đurišić and Lukačević, who are making an immeasurable contribution to our efforts to create a building of great importance for sports and sports tourism in that part of the Kolašin sports zone," says Puletić.

The Youth and Highlanders' Home was built a little over two and a half decades ago to be "the pride of Kolašin's sports infrastructure," and has long been abandoned to vandals and weather conditions.

Bushes and weeds are growing from the dilapidated roof, the facade is destroyed by moisture and graffiti, the glass surfaces are broken, the interior is destroyed, the furniture has been stolen... The building, which was built by the state in 1998 right next to the Playmaker sports hall, is listed as a business building, that is, a "building in trade, catering, tourism". It also says that it has never been issued a building permit, so it does not even have a use permit. According to this information, it is located on a plot of land that is owned by the state, while the Municipality has the right to dispose of it.

The Youth and Highlanders' Home operated for only a few years, when it was managed by a local sports club, and after that both the state and the Municipality forgot about it. It was periodically mentioned by those in power in, so far, unfulfilled promises.

During several terms of office of the previous government, the renovation of the building was announced. Demolition, which, given the condition of the building, seems the most appropriate, has now been mentioned for the first time.

In addition to the plans for the facility, Puletić also announced that, as he said, thanks to the determined cooperation and understanding of the President of the Board of Directors of EPCG Milutin Đukanović, work is underway to install solar panels on the roof of the sports hall in Kolašin. And in these plans, the manager of the Kolašin municipality explains, they have the understanding and support of the State Property Administration, because the hall is state property. As Puletić explained, according to the conclusion from EPCG, the panels can be installed not only on the southern, but also on the eastern and western sides of the roof of the hall. This, as he said, multiple energy-efficient work will be carried out within the framework of the "Solari 5000+" project implemented by EPCG.