Two villas built on state land in the Bar settlement of Utjeha, which are Naim Oruci from Kosovo, suspected of causing damage to Montenegro for three million euros, could be legalized instead of demolished, even though the Urban Planning and Construction Inspection ordered the demolition of these illegal structures a year ago.
Legal regulations also indicate that Oruči was "lucky" to have built before the Law on the Legalization of Illegal Structures was passed in August last year, because the disputed structures are on a satellite image from the month before that, so, according to the letter of the law, he has the right to try to legalize them.
This can be concluded based on the response of the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property, which is headed by Slaven Radunović, when asked by "Vijesti" when two large buildings that were illegally built on two state-owned plots of land would be demolished, after that government department said in May that they had no answer because "the inspector in charge is on vacation."
The ministry told "Vijesti" that the Law on the Legalization of Illegal Structures was passed in August 2025, while the object in question is on an orthophoto from July 2025, which is why it can be subject to the legalization process, in accordance with the conditions prescribed by the law.
The amendments to the Law on the Legalization of Illegal Buildings of 31 July 2026, they stated, stipulate that the owner of an illegal building that is not registered in the real estate cadastre is obliged to initiate the procedure for registration in the cadastre within 24 months from the date of entry into force of the law. The deadline has been extended by one year, so the Spatial Protection Inspectorate of the Ministry's Directorate for the Legalization of Illegal Buildings "at this moment, has no legal basis to carry out the removal of the building in question before the expiry of the deadline prescribed by law".
They note that the fact that the previously issued decision to demolish the building must be viewed in the context of the applicable provisions of the Law on the Legalization of Illegal Buildings and the deadlines that the Law subsequently prescribed.
They emphasized that, when it comes to the possible submission of a request for legalization, in accordance with legal provisions, requests for legalization of illegal facilities are decided by the competent local government bodies, namely the Legalization Administration, within the framework of their legal competences.
For information on whether a request for legalization has been submitted in this specific case, as well as the status of any proceedings, we have referred to the Municipality of Bar, from which we expect answers on whether the request for legalization of the facilities has been submitted, and according to unofficial information, it has not yet been registered with the local government authorities.
The Law on Legalization of Illegal Buildings, which the competent ministry referred to, stipulates that an illegal building for which a request for legalization has not been submitted, or a decision has been issued rejecting the request for legalization, or the procedure for registering the building in the real estate cadastre has not been initiated, shall be removed.
This means that illegal structures, which have destroyed the forest on the coast of Bar, will have a chance to at least submit a request for legalization, and that a possible decision on the demolition of these buildings will have to wait at least another year.
One building demolished, two new ones built
As "Vijesti" wrote in April this year, Oruči (57) managed to build two buildings on state land in the Utjeha settlement - Kunje and clear the forest to the sea. He has managed to do this in the last three years, after the building he built on that state land was demolished, only this time he "seized" two state plots - 4107/23 and 4107/1 in the Cadastral Municipality of Kunje.
Without a construction report or documentation, on illegally occupied state land, extending to the seashore, he cleared the forest, partially leveled the terrain and demolished the rocky shore, creating cascades on the slope to the sea, approximately 600 meters long and 50 meters wide.
The police also said that they suspected that the suspect, by carrying out all the aforementioned works on state land without the appropriate permits and documentation, had gained an illegal material gain of around three million euros, to the detriment of the Montenegrin budget based on unpaid duties.
Although the inspectorate visited the site last June and banned further construction, locals provided "Vijesti" with photographs and videos showing that construction and work on state-owned land and in the coastal forest continued almost a year later.
In April 2024, the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism acted on a decision to demolish Oruči's building on cadastral plot 4107/1 KO Kunje because it was built without a construction registration and documentation.
According to the Ministry's decision from March 2023, which "Vijesti" has access to, it states that Oruči built the ground floor of a residential building measuring approximately 550 square meters and that it was built after the urban planning and construction inspector banned his construction in December 2022.
The same decision shows that Oruçi then tried to legalize the facility he built on state property. This was one of the arguments his lawyer used. Arben Hodzic stated in the appeal he filed on behalf of a Kosovo citizen against the demolition decision from three years ago.
The Ministry's decision states that he initiated the legalization procedure, of which there is evidence in the case files, but that, as it says, this could not have influenced the decision-making of the acting inspector, "taking into account the specific circumstances of the administrative matter in question."
"The complainant (Oruči) carried out construction work on the building during the period of validity of the Law on Spatial Planning and Construction of Buildings, which means that the legal provisions on legalization, which apply to buildings whose construction has been completed, i.e. to constructed buildings, do not apply to the building in question," states the Ministry's decision in which the appeal against the demolition decision was received.
Lawyer Hodžić never responded to "Vijesti"'s inquiry about Oručija's current and previous projects, as well as how, among other things, he was able to begin and develop work on the plot where a building he financed was demolished just a few years ago.
The Bar ODT previously told "Vijesti" that the case was filed on February 9th of this year with the state prosecutor. Kenan Muzurović and that it is in the reconnaissance phase.
What does the law say?
In the part of the law that refers to facilities built on state land, it states that the administrative body responsible for property, i.e. the local government body, is obliged, within 30 days from the date of entry into force of the law, to publish a public call for owners of illegal facilities built on state-owned land, i.e. land on which ownership powers are exercised by a local self-government unit, to submit a request for registration of the facilities in the real estate cadastre within half a year from the date of entry into force of the law, with a warning that, if the procedures for registering illegal facilities in the Cadastre are not initiated, the identity of the owner of the illegal facility will be determined based on data from the real estate cadastre and registered as state property.
Ownership of an illegal structure built on state-owned land, which is recorded on the map or whose owner has not submitted a request for verification of the survey report of the completed condition of the illegal structure or a request to the cadastre for registration of the structure in the real estate cadastre, is determined by decision, based on data from the real estate cadastre.
This decision is required to be made by the administrative body competent for property for illegal structures built on state-owned land, or the local administrative body competent for property for illegal structures built on land on which the ownership authority is exercised by a local self-government unit, after the expiry of the six-month period for initiating the procedure for registering the illegal structure in the Cadastre.
The law states that the procedures for removing illegally constructed structures for which a request for legalization has not been submitted, for which a decision has been issued rejecting the request for legalization, or for which the procedure for registering the structure in the real estate cadastre has not been initiated, and which were initiated by urban planning and construction inspectors, will be continued by spatial protection inspectors.
Urban planning and construction inspectors are obliged to submit all documentation in the initiated procedures for the removal of facilities to the spatial protection inspector, within 30 days from the date of entry into force of this law.
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