The Academy of Knowledge building in Budva again without a permit

Minister of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property Slaven Radunović rejected the request of the Secretariat for Investments of the Municipality of Budva that this government department issue a usage permit for the Knowledge Academy facility.

Thus, a four-story building cannot be put into use even after 18 years from the time the building permit was issued.

"The request of the Secretariat for Investments of the Municipality of Budva for issuing a use permit for the constructed University facility on an urban plot in accordance with the Urban Planning Project 'University of Budva', Municipality of Budva, is rejected due to formal deficiencies," states the decision, which "Vijesti" had access to, and which is signed by Minister Radunović.

As explained, on December 31st last year, the Secretariat for Urban Planning and Sustainable Development submitted to the jurisdiction of that ministry the request of the Secretariat for Investments for issuing a usage permit for the Knowledge Academy. They recall that on June 13th, 2008, the building permit for the facility was issued by the then Ministry for Economic Development.

As it was determined that the submission of the Secretariat for Investments of the Municipality of Budva contains formal deficiencies that prevent action, the Municipality was invited to eliminate them within five days.

The local administration was requested to submit the project of the completed facility, i.e. a statement from the investor and contractor that the completed condition is identical to the designed condition. It was also requested to propose a company that will perform the technical inspection and that has a license to perform technical inspection work, given that the commission proposed in the Request does not meet the requirements of the Law on Construction of Facilities, as well as to submit evidence that it has settled the remaining funds of the "environmental investment fee" in the amount of 23.220 euros.

"The construction permit was issued based on the environmental approval of the Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Protection for the Environmental Impact Assessment Study of the construction of the University facility, the explanation of which states that the investor is obliged to pay 10 percent of one percent of the investment value at the time of issuing the approval for the assessment, which amounts to 2.580 euros, and the remaining funds in the amount of 23.220 euros, to be paid successively until the end of construction. In accordance with the Law on the Environment, a use permit cannot be issued until the investor has settled the remaining funds of the environmental fee for the investment," the decision reads.

The building, which houses several faculties, the National Library, business offices, and hosts the most important meetings and conferences, has been owned by the Municipality for almost two decades and does not have a use permit. The authorities have changed, but no one has managed to complete the documentation.

Back in late 2024, the Secretariat for Urban Planning and Sustainable Development rejected the request of its colleagues from the Secretariat for Investments to issue a usage permit for the Knowledge Academy building, because even then, complete documentation had not been submitted.

The then Academy administration sent a letter to the cabinet of the President of Montenegro in 2023. Jakov Milatović in which she informed him that the fact that the building did not have a use permit was the main obstacle to Budva getting a University Center, and she asked the first man of the state to get involved in solving the problem, but that appeal did not bear fruit either.

Administration of the mayor Marko Tsarević already in December 2021 announced the initiation of two court cases against the company "Cijevna komerc", because the contract for the construction of the Academy of Knowledge building was not respected - the return of the excess transferred property that "Cijevna komerc" took from the Municipality (4.400 square meters of land), but also because that it did not remove the deficiencies noted by the Commission for Technical Review and the Supervisory Authority.

The Secretariat for Property Protection was then provided with the 2007 contract that the Municipality concluded with "Cijevna komerc", as well as a copy of a letter from 2016 where that company confirms that they were handed over surplus land worth 750.117 euros. Municipality of Budva, administration Nikola Jovanović, repaired the damaged canopy last year.