Less than a year after he took office as the first mayor of the Municipality, Đole Lutovac from the Europe Movement is now satisfied with the results of the local government's work. After reviewing the current situation and debts that amounted to more than 18 million euros at the beginning of his mandate, mainly to the state, a significant number of local projects have been successfully implemented. Thanks to the ready-made projects nominated to the Government, Berane will become a large construction site in 2026, with investments worth more than 25 million euros.
"This includes the construction of a street from the Berane Hotel to Lisino Polje, the so-called Luška Street, worth 5,5 million euros, the construction of a market worth 5,5 million euros, the continuation of the construction of the coastal fortifications worth 7,5 million euros, a recycling yard with the purchase of utility equipment worth 4,5 million euros, so I expect a major investment boost," said the Mayor of the Municipality of Berane, Đole Lutovac.
What worries the Mayor more is that economic development is not accompanied by infrastructure investments, so in the city that was once considered a strong industrial center, there are now only a few jobs in the real sector. According to the Employment Agency, about 14 percent of the total population is unemployed in Berane, or approximately one in seven residents of the municipality. That is why he will try, as he says, to animate successful businessmen from Berane who live and work all over the world.
"From Serbia, Slovenia, Luxembourg, America, let's try to attract these people to invest in their hometown," said Lutovac.
Lutovac believes that the opening of the German supermarket chain Lidl, as well as several businesses that have announced the opening of new facilities and the expansion of existing ones, will contribute to the improvement of the economic picture. For him, the true indicator of the city's economic success would be the growth in the number of successful citizens.
"What I would be most satisfied with and proud of would be to be able to say that Berane has 50 millionaires," he pointed out.
Promises that Berane would once again become a center of economic activity in the north were made by almost all Montenegrin officials. Back in 2008, then-Prime Minister and President Milo Đukanović announced that the city had potential like coastal municipalities and that unemployment would soon cease to be a problem. Now, the new local government is announcing projects and investments that, they hope, could fulfill those promises and kick-start Berane's economy.
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