The tender commission that evaluates the submitted bids for concessions for Montenegrin airports continues to attract public attention. After several days of discussion and doubts about the professional work of the commission, another unusual situation occurred at today's session - Prime Minister Milojko Spajić addressed the members via Zoom and asked them to complete the work for which they were formed as soon as possible. At the same time, the opposition is demanding a halt to the airport concessions due to doubts about the procedure and possible fraud. By the way, the South Korean Incheon, which operates the main airport in South Korea, and the Luxembourg-American CAAP, the largest private operator with 53 airports around the world, are in the race.
Due to suspicions surrounding the process of granting the airport concession, opposition parties are calling for it to be halted. They say that the entire process also has work for the prosecutor's office.
"It would be wise for the entire Government, but above all for the protection of a valuable resource that should be further developed, to stop and completely cancel this procedure. And to attract dozens of companies through smart, precise, serious communication at the international level," said Democratic Party of Socialists MP Nikola Rakočević.
"This process is so contaminated that it needs to be stopped. You've seen discussions between them, where they literally accuse each other of working for someone. There are probably elements for the competent authorities to do their job regarding the entire process," said the president of the Social Democrats parliamentary group, Boris Mugoša.
And there were no shortage of procedural errors today either. Prime Minister Milojko Spajić is not on the tender commission, but he joined today's session online and allegedly asked the members to complete the tender procedure as soon as possible in order to legitimize the entire process. The tender commission met after the Government two days ago accepted its proposal to extend the deadline for evaluating the technical offers of two bidders by 30 days. Two companies remained in the race for the concession to the Podgorica and Tivat airports, one from South Korea and a multinational company based in Luxembourg. In the meantime, the media reported that the Korean company did not meet the technical part of the offer. This was the reason for some members of the tender commission, as well as the international consultant IFC, to announce their exemption from the procedure. The DPS reminds that giving the airport under concession is in the national, not the party, interest.
"... The presidents of the parties that make up the government, what do they have to do with it, gather in a closed cabinet in the government, all in tracksuits, to discuss who should be given the airport concession and how the procedure should work. Well, I guess there are procedures, legal work," said Rakočević.
In SD, under whose control Aerodrom was until 2020, they say that the company's valuation model should be discussed again.
"The proposed concession act has many shortcomings in the economic and normative part. A company that generates huge profits, that company has the capacity to function on its own. Of course, the management structure needs to be improved, a clear plan, and huge investments are necessary, because we see that nothing has been invested in the last 5-6 years," Mugoša points out.
Among the government deputies who do not belong to the former DF, there were none willing to speak on this topic today. It is known for now that both bidders have met the minimum requirements.
The Luxembourg-American company would invest 319 million euros in the reconstruction of the airports in Podgorica and Tivat, 63 million more than "Incheon", and the works would start nine months earlier, in March 2026. The Luxembourg company plans to establish bases for low-cost airlines at both airports - three in Podgorica and two in Tivat. On the other hand, the Korean bidder wants to reduce their presence and redirect them to the airports in Dubrovnik and Tirana.
The South Korean company is responsible for operating Incheon International Airport, South Korea's main air hub. The company is wholly owned by the South Korean government. The American-Luxembourg company CAAP is the largest private airport operator in the world by number of airports it manages, with a total of 53 in Latin America and Europe, including key airports in Argentina, Brazil, Italy and Armenia.
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