Representatives of the Mrtvo Duboko and Granica local communities have filed a criminal complaint with Montenegro’s Special State Prosecutor’s Office over works on a road for which the Ministry of Public Works allocated 200,000 euros. They allege suspected abuse of official position and dispute asphalt paving towards Kostrikovača Monastery, which they say falls outside the funded Mrtvo Duboko–Pjenavac Bridge route.
The complaint names responsible persons in the Municipality of Kolašin and unidentified responsible persons at the contractor and supervisory body. The representatives say it concerns suspected offences under Article 416 of Montenegro’s Criminal Code and other offences prosecuted ex officio. They declined to give further details of the filing.
The communities say work is under way on about 900 metres towards the monastery. They say the section crosses private parcels, is not registered as a road in the cadastre and does not belong to the main route to Pjenavac Bridge. They also say no construction information board is displayed at the site.
According to the representatives, the tender documents described the works as adaptation and rehabilitation, misleading residents about what would be built. They suspect that description was used to avoid obtaining construction permits and say they were excluded from project preparation.
Route and procurement dispute
The representatives say the main Mrtvo Duboko–Pjenavac Bridge road has existed for more than 55 years and is registered in the cadastre. In their account, the project designates part of that road as a branch but presents the unregistered monastery section as part of the main route. They told a municipal committee that the dispute concerned this designation, not only where asphalt paving should begin.
At the committee meeting in late September, they said the tender to pave a total of 1,800 metres had been completed, a contractor selected and work started. They requested cancellation of the procurement and a new tender with an appropriate description of the works. “We believe the money is being directed to a section for which it was not approved,” they said.
The communities wrote to the Kolašin mayor on 3 June and again on 13 August, asking for the procurement description to be aligned with their request and the law. They said they received no response. In another letter in August, they referred to an earlier conclusion that paving should start at the cultural centre in the village and continue along the main road towards Pjenavac Bridge, without side connections.
The representatives also cited earlier correspondence from the Municipality of Kolašin concerning Ministry of Agriculture funds. According to their account, the municipality told them that money was intended to repair the Mrtvo Duboko–Kostrikovača Monastery road and a bridge in Selišta, and could not be redirected to the Pjenavac–Mrtvo Duboko route. They say that distinction supports their position that the two roads are separate.
The route dispute was considered in late September by the Kolašin Municipal Assembly’s Committee for Planning and Spatial Development and Municipal Housing and Utilities. Questions about the intended use of the money went unanswered at the meeting after Mayor Petko Bakić, Deputy Mayor Vasilije Ivanović and Spatial Planning Secretary Mirela Drašković did not attend, despite being invited.
Some villagers support the local administration’s plan. In earlier discussions, some residents said improving the road to Kostrikovača Church was in everyone’s interest and welcomed investment in the area.
The Municipality of Kolašin previously said it was following procedures in line with the state-budget funds allocated for the work. It said the project followed an initiative by the New Serbian Democracy and MP Jelena Božović, and that residents had also submitted a request for the route.
