Aqua park is collapsing, owners of former water attraction say municipality is ignoring them

The company "Aquaterra Solutions", the investor and lessee of the Aqua Park above Budva, called on the Municipality to urgently organize a meeting within ten days, provide them with unhindered access to the complex for security and damage assessment, and requested confirmation of the Municipality's readiness to fulfill its contractual obligations and take measures to prevent further deterioration of the complex.

This is stated in a letter that the company submitted to "Vijesti".

On December 24, 2014, the Municipality concluded a long-term lease agreement with the company “Aquaterra solutions” for the construction of an aqua park on the Topliš hill. The annual lease price for four hectares of municipal land was 255 thousand euros. In recent years, “Aquaterra solutions” has not paid a single cent to the Municipality for the lease of the land complex. The long-standing problem with the tenant culminated in the Municipality’s decision to collect the 2019 rent in the amount of 215 thousand euros, which was confirmed by a final judgment of the Court of Appeal, by selling the property, i.e. the inventory in the water park. The Municipality decided to collect the remainder, which almost reached one million euros, from the lease for the past four years, through the court.

At the beginning of February last year, the Secretariat for Property Protection of the Municipality of Budva filed a lawsuit with the Commercial Court to terminate the contract with the company "Aquaterra Solutions", demanding that the local administration take over all the buildings built on the plot on Topliš hill.

The sale of the property did not take place because the company's legal representatives requested the exemption of the public bailiff. Darko Rajković who in February last year made an assessment of the property of the Aqua Park complex, which at the time amounted to 648 thousand euros.

The complex has not been operational for the past two seasons and is in extremely poor condition, with the equipment deteriorating.

In the letter, "Aquaterra solutios" emphasizes that they decided to address the public due to months of lack of communication and inaction by the Municipality regarding the protection and further fate of this project.

"Based on the Long-Term Lease Agreement of December 24, 2014, our company has officially requested a meeting with the Mayor of Budva Municipality several times since November 2025 to coordinate activities to protect the facility, organize rehabilitation works, and prepare the complex for possible reopening. To date, no response has been received, nor has a meeting been scheduled. In the meantime, due to the inability to provide adequate access and the absence of coordinated security measures, numerous acts of vandalism have been committed at the Aqua Park complex, causing significant material damage. In addition to direct damage to the infrastructure, the long-term inaction of the competent authorities seriously reduces the investment value of the project and further worsens the position of the company's creditors," the company points out.

They remind that more than 13 million euros of own and loan funds were invested in the Aqua Park project, including the costs of design, site preparation, equipment procurement, and administrative procedures.

"During the implementation of the project, the company duly fulfilled its fiscal obligations and paid more than 2,5 million euros into the budget of the Municipality of Budva. The Aquapark has been operating successfully for several seasons and has represented one of the largest tourist attractions of its kind on the Adriatic, with a significant contribution to the local economy, employment and tourism offer of Budva. We would like to emphasize that Article 8 of the Lease Agreement stipulates the obligation of the Municipality to consider investor requests for permits, consents and opinions as a priority and within the legal deadlines. We believe that ignoring official letters and refusing institutional communication constitutes a violation of contractual and legal obligations, including the principles of conscientiousness and responsibility prescribed by the Law on Obligations of Montenegro," Aquaterra solutions emphasizes.

They also point to the recent practice of the Court of Appeal from February 2026, which confirmed the need to determine the liability of state bodies in cases where the failure of institutions to act leads to damage to investors.

"We reserve all rights to initiate appropriate legal proceedings to protect the interests of the company, creditors and investments, including claims for compensation for actual damages and lost profits. We believe that the protection of investments, compliance with contractual obligations and the interests of the citizens of Budva must be above administrative passivity," the letter from the company "Aquaterra solutions" states.

From promotion to failure

The project to build an aqua park, as one of the most important for the Montenegrin metropolis of tourism, was promoted in 2006. The entire project fell through because the Cypriot company “Numerico trade limited” failed to realize the idea, leaving millions in debts to the Municipality. The case was taken over by the prosecutor's office in January 2011, when inspectors entered the Municipality of Budva and seized all the documentation. Although at the time there was talk of one of the biggest corruption scandals because the debts of the Cypriot company fell on the “backs” of the taxpayers of the metropolis of tourism, the case was archived in July 2021 by the then Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnić.

The municipality, while it is managed by DPS staff, manages to animate "Aquaterra solution" at the end of 2014, which submits the most favorable offer in the tender. The company backed by Russian capital gets a three-decade lease of 41.889 square meters of municipal land in Topliš and agrees to buy for two million euros the equipment of the Spanish manufacturer "Action waterscapes SL", which was previously acquired by a Cypriot company, and which was stored in Bar for years. port.