What comes first - the canopy or the premiere? Remaining unfinished work on the City Theater building even after the opening

The air conditioning chambers, ducts and other equipment on the roof of the new building of the Podgorica City Theater will still have to wait for protection from adverse weather conditions, even though the facility was officially opened on July 13th and the use permit from the department has been issued. Slaven Radunović received only four days earlier.

This follows from the response of the Podgorica Construction and Development Agency, which claimed in March that no new documentation or construction application was required for the canopy.

"The roof will be made of a prefabricated steel structure with a trapezoidal sheet as a cover and coverings made of aquapanels and blinds, depending on the needs of the aforementioned ventilation equipment. These works are being carried out as part of the building permit for the entire facility, the works were started under the law that was in force in 2016, according to which there was no construction application (a building permit was obtained), and according to the same law they must be completed," the Agency told "Vijesti" on March 3, answering the editorial staff's question whether they had applied for the construction of the canopy.

This was preceded by a report by the former technical director of that Agency. Vlatko Ćipranić To the building inspection due to alleged irregularities during the construction of the facility, including the canopy, for which the contractor had previously requested that the authorities report the construction.

After Ćipranić's report and the writing of "Vijesti", the Agency, according to the inspection report, on March 19 this year reported changes to the revised main project related to the installation of a canopy on the roof of the theater.

Only after the facility opened did the Agency admit that the equipment on the roof was not protected because it still required "separate technical documentation, based on which the construction was registered with the competent Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property."

"Final work remains on the construction of the canopy on the City Theater building. These works were not subject to the 2016 building permit...", the Agency's responses, which are managed by Bajko Vucicevic.

The company now claims that the construction of the canopy does not negatively affect "the operation of the entire facility and its exploitation."

"Users of the City Theatre facility have all the necessary conditions for uninterrupted functioning in the facility itself. Work on completing the canopy is planned for the start of the new theater season. The role of the canopy is to reduce the degree of depreciation of the equipment on the roof - to protect it additionally from adverse weather conditions," they said.

The new building of the City Theater in the capital was officially opened on July 13. The opening was attended by numerous guests, mainly from the city and state executive authorities and parliaments, while numerous theater workers revealed on social media that they had not received an invitation.

Almost on the eve of its opening - on July 9th, the new City Theater building received its occupancy permit.

"The Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property considered submitting the request with the attached documentation, and found it to be well-founded, and this for the following reasons: the provision of Article 149 of the Law on Construction of Structures stipulates that for a structure that is being built, or which was built on the basis of a building permit issued in accordance with the Law on Spatial Planning and Construction of Structures, or the law that regulated the construction of the structure, a use permit shall be issued in accordance with the provisions of these laws... A use permit shall be issued for a structure or part of a structure that represents a technical and technological unit and can be used independently as such," states the explanation of the decision signed by Minister Radunović.

The construction of the City Theater building lasted a full decade. The cornerstone was laid in October 2016, and the building was scheduled to be completed two years later - in October 2018.

The contract was signed with Danilo Dan Petrović's company "Cijevna Commerce", which has been in a standstill for more than five years due to multi-million-dollar debts. This is why the contractors have changed over the years, as have the announcements of when the first play on the new stage could be performed.

"All technical problems have been resolved, we have received a usage permit and the first performance can be performed today," the mayor said on July 13. Saša Mujović for RTCG. He reminded that Podgorica had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

"We have been waiting for Godot for a long time, Godot has arrived. May the new City Theater building bring us good luck," the mayor told RTCG at the time.

However, judging by the announcements made by the director of the City Theatre Sandra Vujović, the Podgorica audience will wait for Godot at least until autumn, when the new theater season begins.

"We wanted to open the doors to the audience with the premiere at the beginning of the new season, in September, and thus mark the beginning of the work of the City Theater in the new space," Vujović told Boja Jutra of "Vijesti" television ahead of the opening of the new facility.