Padlocked again this summer, equipment unsafe: Nikola Jovanović claims that another solution must be sought for the aqua park

This season, it is not possible for the Aqua Park on Topliš Hill to be open, not through the fault of the Municipality of Budva, but through the fault of the lessee due to long-standing debts, non-financing of obligations and ignoring the contractual obligations, primarily the maintenance of equipment and management of the space.

This was stated by the President of the Municipality in an interview with "Vijesti". Nikola Jovanovic, emphasizing that the equipment is in extremely poor condition and the city will not allow the site to be put into operation without it being safe for visitors, tourists, primarily minors, who are the most frequent visitors to this tourist attraction.

He rejected as untrue the claims of the tenant, the company "Aquaterra solutions", that the Municipality refused a meeting with them.

In an open letter published by "Vijesti", the company "Aquaterra solutions" called on the Municipality of Budva 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 local administration's readiness to fulfill its contractual obligations and take measures to prevent further deterioration of the complex.

"It is not true that there were no meetings with the tenant's representatives. The truth is quite different, and that is that the current tenant owes between 1,3 and 1,5 million euros for rent that has not been paid properly for years. If interest is taken into account, then these are truly enormous funds, which the company has unfortunately proven that it does not have the financial capacity to manage that location, or to provide a public service such as an aqua park," Jovanović emphasized.

The first man of Budva said that until the financial obligations are settled, until the rent, water, electricity and all associated fees are paid, there is no legal possibility to negotiate the opening of the Aqua Park.

"What has unfortunately happened in the meantime is the deterioration of the equipment, which makes the space unsafe for use. As a city, we cannot allow this space to be used unless it is completely safe and approved by the competent institutions, unless we have a guarantee that it is safe for our tourists, as well as children who are the dominant visitors. Until the debt to the Municipality of Budva is settled, it will not be possible to put this site into operation," Jovanović pointed out.

She emphasized that the Municipality of Budva was informed by financial institutions, namely banks, that the Aqua Park equipment, which in his opinion is in very poor condition, has been pledged as collateral for certain credit arrangements.

"So the tenant does not have that equipment either. In the meantime, the Municipality of Budva has initiated a forced collection procedure in order to collect the debt. Only part of the equipment remains, the central building, as far as I know, with a few pieces of furniture, so there is nothing there that the Municipality of Budva could use to settle the claims, and they are enormous. Such speculations, which are trying to alarm the public, only further confirm to us that such an arrangement should not be continued, that the contract should be terminated, offered to a new tenant, or that space should receive some new valorization. We have seen that working only for 60 days in the summer is not sufficient and profitable," said Jovanović.

He emphasized that this space should be modified and offer some other content that will be like the city's offer for 12 months and logistics for hotels and private accommodation.

"In the coming period, we will make decisions in that direction," concluded Jovanović.

On December 24, 2014, the Municipality concluded a long-term lease agreement with “Aquaterra solutions” for the construction of an aqua park on 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 of Budva for the lease of the land complex. The long-standing problem with the tenant, the company “Aquaterra solution”, culminated in the Municipality’s decision to collect the 2019 lease 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 was not carried out, because the legal representatives of the company "Aquaterra solutions" requested the exemption of the public bailiff. Public bailiff Darko Rajkovic Back in February last year, he conducted an appraisal 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.

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 being run by DPS personnel, managed to attract the company “Aquaterra solution” at the end of 2014, which submitted the most favorable offer in the tender. The company, which was backed by Russian capital, was granted a three-decade lease of 41.889 square meters of municipal land in Topliš and agreed to purchase for two million euros the equipment of the Spanish manufacturer “Action waterscapes SL”, which had previously been purchased by a Cypriot company and had been stored in the port of Bar for years.

"Aquaterra solution" succeeds in building a large water city in two years, the official opening of which was in June 2016.