Public doubts were caused by the announcement of a tender for the main project for the construction of a five-kilometer-long boulevard towards the new settlement, Velje Brdo, envisioned by the government, without adequate planning documentation.
The Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) believe that this best illustrates how every attempt at a capital investment in the country works, while KANA warns that we still know nothing about the project.
The fact that the Ministry of Public Works has announced a tender for the conceptual design and main project of the Velje Brdo boulevard, which is supposed to connect the Podgorica-Spuž road with the planned settlement, even though there is no planning documentation for it, has been met with dismay by the opposition and the NGO sector. The existing plan does not envisage either the settlement or the boulevard, but only a solar power plant on part of the hill...
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"Elementary ignorance of things and procedures in this area. There can be no planning there, nor any nail driven in before the adoption of the Spatial Plan of Montenegro, or the SPA. Not to mention lower-level planning documents. That's all there is to what the current Government and the Ministry can currently do there. That best illustrates how any attempt related to any serious capital investment in the country functions," said DPS MP Mihailo Anđušić.
"We know nothing and in fact it is really not clear at all how the government can continue in this direction. With such a lack of information, analysis and general awareness of what this project will be about first and foremost, who it will really be intended for and how it will affect the environment, but also all other systems in Podgorica and the surrounding area. We are talking about water, electricity, waste, environmental protection," said Sonja Dragović from the NGO KANA.
The Ministry of Public Works says that there is nothing controversial and states that they have announced a tender based on the Decision on determining the location with elements of urban and technical conditions for a local facility of general interest, which was signed by Podgorica Mayor Saša Mujović on May 14. As well as based on the Project Terms of Reference for the development of a conceptual design and main design of the boulevard by the Minister of Spatial Planning Slaven Radunović on June 6.
They cite Article 155 of the Law on Construction of Structures.
"The existing regulations of the local government unit governing the placement, or construction, of local facilities of general interest will apply until planning documents are adopted in accordance with the law governing spatial planning," the Ministry of Public Works said.
Minister of Spatial Planning Slaven Radunović adds that there is no waiting.
"It is only, as you know, a conceptual solution, meaning a conceptual solution for that boulevard, and in the meantime, after the adoption of the Spatial Plan of Montenegro, the SPA will also be adopted, we simply do not want to waste time," says Radunović.
We don't have time, and the question is, do we have money?
"When you already have deficits in the months ahead, when you have an announcement of new debt, when you have an insufficiently well-prepared tourist season, you have no new inflows, you have no other investments, the question is really, really crucial, where will the money for such a project come from," said Andjušić.
KANE reiterates that all announcements from the Government are delayed. The Housing Policy Strategy mentions the implementation of the so-called "Finnish model" of tenancy rights, under which tenants pay a fee of up to 15 percent of the value of the apartment and have the right to live there, with the possibility of a refund of that amount.
"Everyone writes in this project what they want from the side of the competent institutions. And what we actually know for sure is that we don't even know what will be built, who the target group will be, who will really benefit. Absolutely nothing is clear, everything that has been announced so far has been delayed, there is no planning documentation, there are no analyses and we should all be concerned because the economic and ecological consequences of this kind of work could be truly disastrous in the long term," said Dragović.
"What worries me most is that the appeals and cries of the professional public, the lay public, the non-governmental sector, the academic community mean nothing to anyone. Is this just a maneuver by the Prime Minister so that he can talk about some promise before the elections, but we will know very soon, considering that he said that the first move-ins are expected in 2026, but what we have now is a violation of the law, a violation of environmental procedures, a disregard for our own decisions, so it really is a situation that, for now, seems to me in a sea of all the controversies, the most incredible so far," said Andjušić.
When it comes to deadlines for the boulevard, the Ministry says that the dynamics of the work are determined by numerous factors, and we are at the very beginning.
Previously, Podgorica's Water Authority warned that the planned settlement project could jeopardize the city's water supply, and CGES warned that they would have to relocate two international transmission lines...
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