Last week, the government decided to propose to the Constitutional Court a decision establishing that the Decision on the Adoption of the Program of Temporary Facilities in the Municipality of Budva is not in accordance with the law and the constitution. This would put into question the implementation of two key investment projects - the construction of two prefabricated garages and a chapel, which the city government, which is made up of the informal coalition "Budva our city", DPS and the European Union.
Chief city architect Jelena Lazic, Despite the fact that at the beginning of May the Government suspended the Program of Temporary Facilities for the Territory of the Municipality of Budva for the period until 2028, on July 3 it gave approval to the conceptual design of the future temporary facility - the city chapel, while the Mayor of the Municipality Nikola Jovanovic ten days ago, ranked first in the offer of a Serbian company close to the regime Aleksandar Vučić, Novi Sad's "Gemmax Gradnja", which is entrusted with the construction of two prefabricated garages near the Old Town, worth 5,5 million euros.
The construction of both projects was planned under the controversial Temporary Facilities Program, which was overturned by the Government.
Leader of the "Movement for the City" and councilor of that group of citizens in the Budva parliament Đorđe Zenović He sent an urgent letter to the city's chief architect, requesting that she cancel the approval decision and refrain from issuing new decisions based on the invalid temporary facilities program in the future.
"These facilities are planned for construction based on the Program for the Installation of Temporary Facilities (2024-2028), the implementation of which has been suspended based on Article 184 of the Law on Local Self-Government and the Decision of the Government of Montenegro. The aim of my address is exclusively the lawful operation of local government bodies and the avoidance of potential damage to the interests of the Municipality and the public interest. Namely, there are several omissions that, in my opinion, were made during the preparation of technical and other documentation for the construction of the city chapel and prefabricated garages," Zenović stated in a letter to the chief city architect.
He also stated that the Law on Construction of Buildings defines public buildings.
"Public facilities are facilities for healthcare, education, science, social protection, culture, sports, facilities for the needs of state bodies and local self-government bodies, public service facilities, cemeteries, public garages, green markets, etc. Therefore, it is indisputable that, in accordance with the Law, public facilities include chapels and public garages. The same Law stipulates: "A public competition shall be announced for the development of a conceptual architectural solution for public facilities for the needs of state bodies and local self-government bodies that are state-owned, in accordance with urban planning and technical conditions.", while paragraph 4 stipulates: "By way of exception to paragraph 3 of this Article, for facilities whose construction is financed from the local self-government budget, the announcement and implementation of a public competition may be entrusted to the local government body responsible for spatial planning and construction of facilities," Zenović emphasized.
According to him, it is beyond doubt that these are public buildings and that for public buildings, in accordance with the law and the cited provisions, a competition must be announced for the development of a conceptual architectural design, which the Municipality of Budva failed to do in specific cases, thus violating the law.
"As you yourself stated in the explanation of the disputed Decision on granting consent to the conceptual design of the architectural project of a temporary facility for which the main design for the installation of a temporary facility intended for the needs of "Funeral Services" - chapels is being prepared, the Government has adopted a Decision, by which, in accordance with Article 184 of the Law on Local Self-Government, it suspended the implementation of the Program for the Installation of Temporary Facilities, which envisages the construction of a chapel, but also the construction of two disputed assembly-dismantling garages. Since it is indisputable that the aforementioned Government Decision was published in the "Official Gazette" on May 26, 2026, and since Article 3 of that Decision stipulates that the decision shall enter into force on the day of publication in the "Official Gazette", the fact is that the Program for the Installation of Temporary Facilities is not in legal force as of May 26. Furthermore, Article 145 of the Constitution of Montenegro establishes the basic constitutional and legal principle of legality, i.e. establishes that a law must be in accordance with the Constitution and ratified international treaties, and other regulations must be in accordance with "The Constitution and the law. This further means that, since the Temporary Facilities Program does not have legal effect from May 26th, and therefore not on July 3rd when you issued the disputed Decision on granting approval for the conceptual design, the urban planning and technical conditions issued on March 11th are not valid from that date," Zenović stated in the letter to Lazić.
Zenović believes that the mere fact that Lazić was aware of the Government's decision was enough for her not to act according to the Program for the Installation of Temporary Facilities and the issued UTU, and that it was not necessary for her to separately inform any competent authority about this.
"I am confident that you will take into account the aforementioned well-intentioned suggestions and that you will act legally in this specific and any subsequent similar case and initiate the cancellation of the initiated proceedings and procedures, in order to avoid harmful consequences for the Municipality and the public interest," concluded Zenović.
“The capital of poached pears, cotton candy, ice cream and barbecue”
Although the Temporary Facilities Program is no longer in effect, the promenade has begun to take on the appearance of a fairground. Numerous temporary facilities, as foreseen in the disputed planning document, have been erected even though the Municipal Police, which is their jurisdiction, would have removed everything.
Unfortunately, this government, like the previous one, assigned temporary locations to its political sympathizers and activists, so temporary facilities were largely erected in key locations without any paperwork, from promenades to boulevards.
Zenović posted on social media a graphic depiction of what the promenade looks like on the eve of Statehood Day.
"Now traditionally, in anticipation of the National Day, Budva becomes the real capital of poached pears, cotton candy, ice cream, barbecue and corn. At dawn on July 12, hardworking entrepreneurs take the devices out of the truck onto the promenade, install them and hang them on public lighting, all so that our promenade shines like Las Vegas on the night before the holiday, while across the street, on the side of the Coastal Zone, barbecues smoke and charcoal is lit for the very peak of the tourist season. Death to fascism," Zenović wrote.
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