Locals satisfied, MUP late with appeal: Final price of expropriated land for Ranče border crossing determined

Residents of the Pljevlja village of Ranče are satisfied with the new assessment of the value of the expropriated land, which was taken from them due to the construction of a new border crossing, considering it more realistic and closer to previous purchase prices in the area.

Unlike them, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as the beneficiary of the expropriation, filed an appeal against the new decision of the Real Estate Administration - Regional Unit in Pljevlja, but the first-instance body rejected it because it was filed after the expiration of the legal deadline of 15 days.

The Ministry of Interior's appeal was submitted and registered with the Real Estate Administration on December 5 against the decision on expropriation issued on November 3, 2025. The Real Estate Administration determined that the decision was duly delivered to the Ministry of Interior on November 11, which is confirmed by the signed delivery receipt returned on the same day.

Referring to Article 89 on the method of calculating deadlines and Article 125 paragraph 1 of the Law on General Administrative Procedure, the Administration concluded that the appeal was filed after the expiry of the stipulated deadline of 15 days from receipt, which is why it was rejected as untimely, in accordance with the legal procedure.

The legal instruction of the decision states that a new appeal against this rejection can be filed with the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property, within 15 days from the date of receipt of the decision, through the Regional Unit in Pljevlja.

There is currently no publicly available information on whether a second-instance legal remedy has been filed.

The expropriation case has been ongoing since 2020, when the state initiated the process of purchasing plots for the construction of a new border crossing on the international road Pljevlja - Prijepolje.

The first decision was made in 2021, with an initial fee estimate of 6,06 euros per square meter. Local residents and plot owners filed an appeal with the Ministry of Finance, and then a lawsuit with the Administrative Court.

The court annulled the decision and returned the case for re-determination, after which a new commission of the Real Estate Administration was formed in Pljevlja, which made a new assessment of the land value of 8,27 euros per square meter.

The locals did not appeal this time, because the assessment is almost identical to the previous purchase prices from 2018, when land in the same area was expropriated for 8,25 euros for the purpose of expanding the main road.

Despite the completed infrastructure and the new assessment that was not disputed, payment for the confiscated land is still awaiting a final epilogue.

Locals briefly blocked the border crossing last year in May, because even after several years since the start of construction, they had not collected money for part of the expropriated properties.