Promoted as a life-saving solution for Budva's water supply, the first and one of the largest and still uninvestigated corruption scandals of the Budva criminal group of the fugitive Svetozar Marović, a seawater desalination plant, will be removed from Zavala after almost two decades.
This is envisaged by the Draft Amendments to the Planning Document, the Urban Development Project "Zavala Tourist Complex", which was presented by the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property at a public hearing held on Friday in Budva.
Instead of the dilapidated concrete temporary building, which "ate" five million euros of citizens' money, a building is planned on a plot owned by the Municipality, which is claimed by the locals, whose height must not exceed four floors.
This has definitively "erased" the megalomaniacal 141-meter-high skyscraper, a 40-story hotel, owned by the previous owner of the complex on Zavala, the Russian "Mirax Group" of a failed billionaire. Sergej Polonsky, named the “Jedro” hotel. A decade and a half ago, while building a residential villa complex without a permit on the cape that separates Budva and Bečići, Polonski also promoted the construction of the largest and most luxurious seven-star hotel on the Montenegrin coast, which would be the new trademark of Budva...
The head of the expert team that worked on the changes to the urban planning project "Tourist Complex Zavala", which also included representatives of the Municipality of Budva, architect Mladen Krekić He told "Vijesti" that the desalination plant was not planned in the planning document, but rather its removal.
"The essence of this planning document is a rehabilitation program for existing construction that took place 15 years ago. Construction is planned in certain positions, where possible, or where the Spatial Plan for the Coastal Area allows. This includes, in addition to the construction of a mini-hotel near the garage, the area where the desalination plant is currently located, which is being removed from the tourist area. This area is defined as a central activity, because it provides the opportunity for the purpose to be flexible in the process when it is known who owns the land, whether the Municipality or privately," said Krekić.
He explained that the central activity implies a broad aspect of possibilities for various purposes.
"From museums, cultural facilities, shopping areas, tourist and catering facilities with accommodation... The planning document provides for a maximum of four floors and the coefficients are low, because I believe that there should be no construction of any towers at the top of the cape, because I believe that Zavala should be protected," Krekić emphasized.
Broken windows at a pumping station overgrown with bushes, a locked hall with the words "WTE desalination" written on the door, waste everywhere, are the picture of the desalination plant, the largest capital project that the city's DPS-SDP administration was once proud of.
THE FIRST MAYOR OF BUDVA WITH HANDCUFFS
The story of the controversial plant begins in 2006, when the city's Water Authority announced a tender for the selection of a partner for the construction of a seawater processing plant in Zavala. A year later, a 20-year contract was concluded with the selected company, "Montenegro Osmoza". The Municipality of Budva, or rather, the Water Authority, undertook to purchase almost two million cubic meters of water annually at 98 cents under extremely unfavorable conditions.
At that time, the regional water supply system had not yet arrived in Budva.
"Montenegro Osmoza" is committed to building the plant and equipping it, while the Municipality is investing two million euros in the construction of infrastructure - an access road, well, transformer station...
The prosecution investigated the manner in which that money was spent through the "Zavala" affair, in which municipal managers and officials were arrested and convicted.
Soon, "Montenegro osmosis" disappears from the entire project without a trace, so since 2008 the plant on Zavala has been taken over by the company "WTE Desalinizacija morse vode", behind which is the founder registered in Germany.
“WTE Desalinizacija morske vode” (a sister company of “WTE otpadne vode” which led the Bečići wastewater plant project, which is also a multi-million dollar affair of the Marović group) and the Budva Waterworks concluded a contract for the takeover of drinking water in 2008. The contract was extremely unfavorable, because the Waterworks undertook to take over the water during the winter months, even though there was no need for it. The plant practically never even started functioning, it allegedly worked on several occasions during the dry summer months of 2008 and 2009, and this was precisely at the time when the then prosecutor Đorđina Ivanovic opened an investigation, and began to ask how citizens' money was spent.
At the end of 2010, handcuffs were placed on the then mayor of the municipality, the late Rajko Kuljača and another dozen municipal employees, who were accused of damaging the budget by 820 thousand euros in the "Zavala" affair, which included the construction of the access road, but not the facility itself.
WORLD PHOTOGRAPHER AND CREDITS
Although the plant was not working, bills were regularly submitted to Vodovod for collection.
The State Audit Institution detailed how the suspicious company's credit debts were incurred in the report on the final accounts of the Municipality of Budva for 2015.
The seawater desalination company “WTE desalination of seawater” concluded a long-term loan agreement with Hypo Alpe Adria Bank (HAAB) on 7 May 2008 in the amount of 5,3 million euros. The loan was approved for the purchase and installation of a seawater desalination plant. However, “Mediterranean WTE” then entered the story, a company in which the Municipality holds 49 percent of the capital, while the rest belonged to a world-famous photographer, a Spaniard. Rubenu Slagado Eskuderu.
It was never explained to the public how the photographer ended up in the capital project of the tourism metropolis, and the secret was skillfully hidden by the then municipal government led by the DPS.
“Mediterranean WTE” then concluded an agreement with HAAB and “WTE desalinizacija morske vode” on accession to the debt, i.e. a long-term loan of 5,3 million euros. At the end of June 2010, a joint and several guarantee agreement was signed by HAAB (creditor), “WTE desalinizacija morske vode” (debtor), “Mediterranean WTE” (debt assignee) and the Municipality of Budva and JP Vodovod i kanalizacija (joint and several guarantors), for that amount.
However, it does not end there, so on August 1, 2013, Vodovod and the Municipality conclude an agreement on the delimitation of obligations based on the joint guarantee contract. On the day of signing the agreement, the remaining debt amounted to 4,5 million, of which the liabilities of the Waterworks amounted to 2,1 million, and the Municipality 2,3 million.
However, on October 6, 2014, a new agreement was signed between the Municipality and the Water Company for the delimitation of liabilities. On the date of signing the agreement, the debt balance was 3,2 million, the Municipality's 1.5 million, and the Water Company's 1,7 million euros.
After that, Vodovod concluded an out-of-court settlement in 2014, paying the Spaniard 650.000 euros and purchasing the plant, but the handover was never completed. The Municipal Assembly then decided to liquidate the company “Mediteran WTE”.
The municipality and the water utility company returned the million-dollar loan at the beginning of 2016.
JOVANOVIĆ SIGNED SETTLEMENT WORTH 3,5 MILLION EUROS
At the end of November, the Municipality of Budva paid the first of four installments, in the amount of 875 thousand euros each, to the account of the German company WTE from Essen, officially beginning the implementation of the agreement concluded by the two parties and thus resolving mutual claims and obligations within the controversial project of building a wastewater treatment plant in the Bečići settlement of Vještica, as well as a desalination plant.
In early October, the Municipal Assembly adopted a Settlement Agreement on mutual rights and obligations between the Municipality and the Budva Waterworks and Sewerage Company on the one hand and “WTE Wassertechnik GMBH”, “Otpade vode Budva DOO”, “WTE desalinizacija morsvode DOO” and “Beteiligung 52 asset solutions GMBH” on the other hand, which obliges it to pay 3,5 million euros to companies from the German WTE group from Essen and thus close disputes before international and domestic courts.
18 councilors voted for the agreement, three voted against, and there were no abstentions.
Supporters of the Democrats and "For the Future of Budva" left the hall early.
After that, on October 29th, the mayor of Budva Municipality Nikola Jovanovic He signed the agreement before a notary, and stated that the mutual disputes between the two parties before international and domestic courts had been resolved amicably and legally.
"The conclusion of the Settlement Agreement, in our opinion, represents a success for the community and the institution, fully protecting the interests of the Municipality, citizens, the Municipality's property and ensuring legal certainty," Jovanović said at the time.
The settlement agreement stipulates that the Municipality of Budva will pay a total of 3.500.000 euros, in four equal installments of 875.000 euros each - the first by November 30, 2025, the second by December 30, 2025, the third by February 15, 2026, and the fourth by March 15, 2026.
Rafailovići called on SDT to get involved
Representatives of the Rafailović Brotherhood, who claim almost seven hectares on Cape Zavala, challenged the draft amendments to the urban planning project "Zavala Tourist Complex" at a public hearing in Budva, and requested that the government department headed by Slaven Radunović withdraw the planning document.
Representative of 135 heirs to a land complex in Zavala, which is estimated at one hundred million euros, Željka Ivanković She told "Vijesti" that they filed a criminal complaint with the Special State Prosecutor's Office.
The state nationalized the property of 13 Rafailović families in Zavala in the 1950s, and the former owners point out that the land was never used, or brought to its intended purpose, after which, during the introduction of the new cadastre in 1995, it was registered with the state and the Municipality of Budva.
The heirs of the parcels claim that they found out that they are not the owners of the sedge only after the resale worth millions, and they have been seeking justice in the courts since 2007.
"We are requesting the withdrawal of the plan from the procedure, primarily from the Government of Montenegro and the relevant ministry. Namely, at a meeting on November 3 in Minister Radunović's office, the Protector of Property and Legal Interests of Montenegro, Bojana Ćirović, informed that, having reviewed the civil proceedings and the evidence submitted, the state has no basis for registration at the Zavala site claimed by private individuals before the courts, and that she proposes to Minister Radunović that the property be returned or paid for. Minister Radunović asked whether the property was used for its intended purpose, whether it was built and whether it can be returned, to which Ćirović said that the property can be returned. Minister Radunović said that a valid procedure for return in civil proceedings should be initiated," Ivanković stated, adding that the procedure is ongoing.
According to her, while the procedure is ongoing, a planning document is being put up for public debate without any provocation.
"The planning document is absolutely to the detriment of the state, and later private owners, because we are sure that we will succeed in the disputes. The plan is in the interest of investors. The facts are indisputable, and that is that the plan is trying to legalize something that was built illegally, utilities have not been fully paid to the Municipality of Budva, something that does not have a use permit."
Ivanković: The municipality rushed to settle with the Germans
Željka Ivanković asked why the Municipality signed a settlement agreement with a German company, and linked it to the desalination project. She found it indicative that the Municipality rushed to sign the settlement agreement, and the relevant Ministry then put the planning document up for public debate.
"From the beginning, we said that the agreement should not include desalination, because it is a temporary facility, which was built illegally and is ready to be demolished. If Mr. Jovanović had the intention to solve the problem with the WTE company, he should have settled only the obligations related to the wastewater project. It is now clear, when the planning document was presented, why desalination was included. The municipality is not interested in demolishing the desalination facility, because the German company will be paid 3,5 million euros, but will potentially use the coefficients and parameters and ownership of that facility. Now we are again in a situation - who owns the facility, and who owns the land underneath it. It is known that we are the owners of the land," said Ivanković.
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