Montenegro Ski Resorts has completed ground works around the K7 chairlift tower, paving the way for state-run Kolašin 1600 and private Kolašin 1450 to reconnect next winter after a two-season break. The state operator said the link would restore access to slopes that have been unavailable since K7 stopped operating, although the lift still needs an overhaul before it can carry skiers.
The remediation contract went to Podgorica-based M Solutions for 114,035 euros excluding VAT, after Montenegro Ski Resorts selected the company on 17 June 2026. The state had allocated 150,000 euros for stabilising the ground around the tower.
K7 has been out of service since spring 2024, when construction work on neighbouring plots belonging to a company of Zoran Ćoćo Bećirović caused a landslide and destabilised the ground near the tower. The state had invested almost nine million euros in the lift. Its closure left about 10 kilometres of slopes at Kolašin 1600 inaccessible and broke the connection with Kolašin 1450, both on Bjelasica.
The first two tenders for the remediation attracted no bidders, while a third was cancelled because a bidder submitted incomplete documentation. Bećirović’s company had previously said it had started remediation, but an expert found the lift unsafe without further ground stabilisation.
Completion of the ground works does not mean K7 is ready for use. The lift’s overhaul is still pending, and representatives of Dopelmajer are expected to inspect it. Montenegro Ski Resorts Chief Executive Bojan Medenica said several minor challenges had been resolved and that he expected K7 to operate next winter, along with the infrastructure linking the two ski areas.
Overhaul work on the K8 chairlift and ski lifts has been completed, Medenica said. He added that preparations for the coming winter were finished and that the company expected a successful season, citing long-range weather forecasts that predict snow.
Snowmaking infrastructure remains incomplete
The state ski area on Bjelasica will not have artificial snowmaking this coming season. The project intended to secure water for snowmaking remains unfinished, leaving the resorts without the planned water supply infrastructure.
The Ministry of Public Works has yet to choose a contractor to design and build reservoirs on Bjelasica. A tender for the work was issued during the summer. The reservoirs are part of a water supply and snowmaking project for Kolašin 1600 and Kolašin 1450, which was designed to draw water from the Ljevaja River.
The contract for the water system, worth about 9.18 million euros, was signed in January 2023. Contractor Sigillum CO unilaterally terminated it, citing delayed payments, blockades by local residents and unresolved property issues. Kolašin Municipality has repeatedly announced that the work would resume, but a new tender has not been issued.
Joint ski-pass terms remain unresolved
Despite the expected physical link between the resorts, Montenegro Ski Resorts and Kolašin 1450 have not agreed on a joint ski pass. The state operator’s board proposed a price of 40 euros and a division of profits based on use of infrastructure, measured by recorded passages on the lifts.
Board Chairman Miličko Bulatović called the lift records the “only relevant parameter” for calculating the division of profit. The Ministry of Tourism supported the board’s proposal. At a working meeting, however, the private resort’s owner rejected a passage-based calculation unless additional software was introduced to monitor and control use of infrastructure at both ski areas.
The state operator’s board accepted the proposal to acquire the software, and Ski-resort Kolašin 1450 took responsibility for the purchase after initiating it. Until the system is installed, Montenegro Ski Resorts agreed to divide profits according to percentages set in advance, but the parties have not agreed on those shares.
The private resort’s earlier offer was unacceptable to the state operator because data on recorded passages in the 2022/23 season would have given the state resort a larger share of profit than the offer provided. Montenegro Ski Resorts has received two additional ski lifts since that season.
As a compromise, the state operator proposed daily joint review, confirmation and exchange of data from the Ski data system after skiing ends, as well as prompt purchase of the additional software to address distrust of the existing records. Kolašin 1450 rejected that proposal and maintained its earlier offer.
Bulatović said the board would continue negotiations with representatives of the private resort in communication with the Ministry of Tourism, with the aim of enabling skiers to buy a joint pass. The profit-sharing percentages and the joint-pass agreement remain unsettled.
