Airports are one of the most valuable resources, and the drowning people from the Government want to sell everything and leave Montenegro, said the president of the Civic Movement URA, Dritan Abazović.
He recalled that he and the URA are against airport concessions, which the government is trying to sell "by force to shame" with "some controversial, even corrupt, activities," the party announced.
"This is a business that is a monopoly in Montenegro. We have two functional airports that are not in good condition, but they make 20 million euros in profit annually. It is one of the most profitable state-owned companies that Montenegro has. The government is now trying to forcefully cede them to the Koreans through corrupt practices. The Commission voted twice, they changed the rules during the tender, and Milan Knežević asked the SDT to listen to him, because he allegedly has information and evidence that pressure was exerted on the members of the commission and on people from the parliamentary majority to forcefully, shamefully, give it to the Koreans," Abazović said in the author's podcast.
He welcomed the proposal of the protector of the state's property and legal interests to conduct a new assessment of the property value, stating that it has probably reached 300-400 million euros from 150 million euros in 2018, which is why the decision on the concession must now go to the Parliament.
"That's good because we need to open a debate in the Parliament of Montenegro. You know how their agreements with the United Arab Emirates went, you know how much trouble they made. I think these are drowning people who want to sell off everything this country has as its most valuable and flee Montenegro after their mandate ends. Airports are definitely one of the most valuable resources," he added.
When asked by citizens to explain why he was in favor of only putting Tivat airport under concession, he said that it would provide enormous benefits to the municipality of Tivat and Boka.
"We returned the ferries to state ownership, so now instead of 200 thousand they bring in over 10 million euros a year. Why do I think Tivat is better for a concession than Podgorica? Because it is in worse condition, because the runway is in a catastrophic state and it simply needs a much bigger renovation than in Podgorica. Of course, a lot needs to be sorted out in Podgorica, but I think that if we were to introduce a serious concessionaire and the state were to work on a serious project in Podgorica, we would have a win-win situation for Montenegro and all its citizens," he explained.
He added that Tivat should have a water terminal, where those with boats, speedboats, and passenger ships would go directly to their apartments.
"Their first impression of Montenegro would be a fantasy, a tourist who would drive through Boka Kotorska to his hotel would fall in love with Montenegro forever. That's Montenegro 365," he added.
He also reminded that there is a project for Podgorica worth 94 million euros, being carried out by the state, which "can take out a loan and make money from our airports."
"Everything should be done to prevent this plan of the Government. I think it is very important that everything is transparent and that no one should have the right to have what is the property of all citizens of Montenegro go to waste so that some Spajić, some uncle, Pero or Marko can take a percentage and later escape from Montenegro, enjoy themselves in Dubai or some other place. We have seen enough of this in the previous period and if we were lucky, this security sector would deal with, among other things, these issues, and not electric scooters," said Abazović.
He invited citizens who have ideas on how to develop the country to present them, recalling the "Montenegro 365" program. He said that a platform should be built that should "save Montenegro" economically, culturally and "in every other sense."
"I have talked to citizens who have good and relevant ideas, some 15, 20 years old, but so far no one has wanted to hear them. Ideas that, for example, concern the creation of ski towns in a way that ski lifts would have stations in the towns, which, in my opinion, would greatly contribute to the development of the north, and would burden access to ski resorts less with cars and inevitable traffic jams," said Abazović.
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