"Parked" only promises: Đorđe Zenović, leader of the "Movement for the City", on the construction of garages in Budva

If the construction of prefabricated garages were to begin, which the Mayor of Budva Municipality Nikola Jovanović announced at two locations not far from the Old Town, in front of the hotels "Merit" and "Mogren", that would be sufficient grounds for criminal liability for construction without construction documentation."

This was told to "Vijesti" by the leader of the "Movement for the City" and a councilor of that group of citizens in the local parliament. Đorđe Zenović, emphasizing that the Municipality is deceiving citizens.

Recall, "Vijesti" announced last week that just as they had somewhat stabilized their financial situation and reached for a loan, the Municipality of Budva announced a tender for the selection of contractors for two key investment projects, which it planned to implement this year - the construction of prefabricated garages, and the road across the Grđevica River, in anticipation of the summer season.

Administration headed by the Mayor Nikola Jovanovic She boasted in a video clip that, amidst opposition criticism of the city administration that its coffers were empty and that they had spent 20 million in vain, she had issued a public call for the construction of prefabricated garages according to the model, as stated in the document that "Vijesti" had access to, "design and build", for which 5,45 million euros, including VAT, will be allocated from the city treasury.

Two prefabricated garages

Namely, it concerns the construction of two prefabricated garages, one on a plot in front of the “Merit Starlit” hotel, which would have a gross area of ​​4.500 square meters, and the second prefabricated garage would be in the parking lot in front of the “Mogren” hotel, which would have a gross area of ​​5.500 square meters. Both locations, physically separate, in the very neighborhood, are located in the very center of the city, about a hundred meters from the Old Town. It was expected that the Municipality would build the prefabricated garages in time for the summer, so that the city center itself would have several hundred new parking spaces and thus solve the problem of the shortage to some extent, but this did not happen.

Zenović, on the other hand, emphasizes that one of the key promises from the Platform for Saving Budva, which was presented by Nikola Jovanović and based on which it received "project support" from the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), is the construction of new garages and over 2000 parking spaces.

"The promise was made a year and a half ago and when we look at it today, we see that almost nothing has been done and that alone would normally be enough for DPS to deny support to the Mayor, but even then we knew that the platform was a Trojan horse in which DPS should "slide" into power. Today, DPS practically manages 50 percent of the departments, companies and institutions in which the Municipality is the founder, and certain secretariats have also been given to them to manage, although one of the key promises from the platform, and I quote the key one: "To this end, perhaps for the first time in the field of public affairs, there will be no distribution by "depth and breadth", but staff in local government will be selected through a competition, taking into account professional criteria for certain areas, which will neutralize the influence of politics and political interests", emphasized Zenović.

Regarding the garages and the 5,5 million euros planned in the budget for construction this year, Zenović points out that a few days ago we heard from the Municipality of Budva that tenders would be announced for the construction of garages at the location near "Zeta Film" and next to the "Mogren" hotel, with a gross area of ​​4500 square meters.

Underground, but not above-ground garages

"The public must know that these prefabricated-demountable garages are foreseen by the Temporary Facilities Installation Program, and that the Municipality of Budva received the Urban Planning and Technical Conditions for the construction of garages based on the Temporary Facilities Program. On May 26, 2026, the Decision of the Government of Montenegro on the suspension of the implementation of the Temporary Facilities Program was published in the Official Gazette under number 71/2026, and paragraph 2 of that decision states that the Government will submit the same to the Constitutional Court for a decision within 30 days of the entry into force of the decision, which means that the Temporary Facilities Program is no longer in legal force. As such, the urban planning and technical conditions are no longer valid and construction cannot begin based on them. If construction were to begin, that would be sufficient grounds for criminal liability for construction without construction documentation," claims Zenović.

According to him, the DUP envisages underground, not above-ground, garages at the locations of these two parking lots.

"So, even on that basis, the Municipality cannot obtain valid urban planning and technical conditions. The platform promised the construction of a multi-storey garage in the Rozino settlement, or rather, the application for a parking permit in the first year of government, but the investor and owner of the land on which the garage is being built is not the Municipality of Budva, but private individuals and legal entities, so this was also an attempt to deceive in order to present it as an investment venture of the Municipality. The platform also planned the construction of an underground garage near the so-called "Red Building", on the currently green park area, but the Municipality cannot obtain urban planning and technical conditions for construction at that location because it is not provided for in the urban plan, or DUP. Only by amending the plan can the conditions for the construction of an underground garage be created," said Zenović.

As he emphasized, the only thing that has begun to be implemented is the design of a garage at the top of Dubovica, unconstitutional zoned parking and parking lots and garages on private construction sites and parking lots. "While at the same time, the areas intended for parking owned by the Municipality are being leased to private individuals and legal entities or on some other basis for use," concluded Zenović.

Promised 2.000 new parking spaces

Upon taking over the position of Mayor of the Municipality, when he was voted into the local parliament in early February 2025, Jovanović stated in his Platform for Saving Budva that he would build new garages with a total of 2.000 parking spaces during his term.

"In the first year, at the Rozino location, we will submit an application for the construction of a new multi-storey garage with a total of 575 parking spaces. In the second year of the mandate, we will submit an application for the construction of a new multi-storey garage with 360 parking spaces. At the Dubovica location, we plan to build a multi-storey garage with 250 parking spaces. At the Red Building, we plan to build a modern underground garage with 300 spaces. Through the Temporary Facilities Program, at the locations near "Merita" and in the area of ​​the old bus station, we plan to build garages with capacities of 180 and 130 parking spaces. We will also affirm the possibility of building garages as a business idea through private initiative and private-public partnership, as well as increasing the capacity of existing parking lots. Through the development of a comprehensive traffic and parking study, we will arrange an additional number of parking spaces and enable payment with modern payment methods. The goal is to provide faster access and information to citizens and tourists at all times through the "Budva smart city" project by applying modern technologies, with the aim of reducing traffic "Let's solve the problem of illegal parking. The new "hawk's eye" system is planned to be used in the upcoming tourist season so that the competent services can regulate traffic order as efficiently as possible," Jovanović promised at the time.