The government should determine the public interest in the expropriation of private property in order to move the Maljevik project, worth around half a billion euros, from the deadlock after more than 16 years when this deal was concluded, which was not done by the Municipality of Bar, on the territory of which this project is to be built.
It is about the expropriation of real estate at this location where a road with accompanying infrastructure, which is categorized as a municipal road, should be built. The area of this road is about eight thousand square meters, of which the largest part is owned by the Municipality of Bar, and the rest belongs to legal and individual entities. When the decision on expropriation is determined, the Municipality will initiate that procedure before the cadastre – explained the source, adding that the expropriation will cost the Municipality of Bar at least EUR 114,000.
In September 2007, the Podgorica company with Russian capital, Sonuba Montenegro, bought 200,000 square meters of land in Maljevik from the Municipality of Bar for EUR 32.5 million, with another EUR 11.8 million charged for utilities. The goal was to build an exclusive tourist complex, but from the signing of the contract until today, nothing has changed.
This problem was the topic of last week’s meeting in the office of Prime Minister Dritan Abazović, which he officially announced at the conference on the occasion of the government’s one year of work.
The meeting about Maljevik has just ended. An investment of EUR 500 million which, believe it or not, has been languishing since 2006 due to things that I would call illegal, but let it be that part of the blockage is the administration. I expect the Municipality of Bar to receive an investment equivalent to what Porto Montengro has for the Municipality of Tivat. We finished the meeting this morning, I believe we have agreed everything as needed.
People are ready despite the fact that someone did not allow them to invest for 15 years. Maljevik is the largest investment that has ever been paid in Montenegro, they gave over 50 million EUR, of which 30 million was given to the Municipality of Bar, plus part of the money for utilities. I remind you that only 18 million was given for Porto Montengro. That (Maljevik) was the largest direct payment in Montenegro. People need half a billion euros to enter Montenegro, and someone did not make it possible for them for reasons known to them – said Abazović.
He explained that the reason why the project was not realized was the “complaint of the local authorities from the previous period – Municipality of Bar”. You can guess what it was about – said Abazović.
In the summer of 2011, it was presented to the representatives of the local government and the opposition that the new owner of Maljevik is the company Merkury from Russia, which is presented as the largest conglomerate in the field of luxury business in Russia. In June 2012, this group announced the project in the media stating that they will invest EUR 220 million in the Maljevik complex, with the announcement that they will seek to reduce the size through changes to the DUP.
On July 22, 2016, DUP Maljevik split the ruling coalition in SO Bar. The decision was not adopted because 15 councilors were against it (Demos, SDP, DF, SNP and an independent councilor, while 13
DPS councilors and one BS councilor voted for DUP. Five councilors of coalition partners DPS abstained – four from SD and one from Pozitivna , as well as the councilor of DSCG.
Unadopted changes were intended to halve the area of the luxury hotel complex on Maljevik from 240 to 129,000 square meters, which effectively cancels the company’s obligation to pay the municipality of Bar EUR 9.3 million for utilities, according to a final court ruling. The opposition always pointed out that the adoption of this decision would be an act against the public interest “with elements of criminal and corrupt actions”.
In the Basic Court in Bar, based on the complaint of the Municipality against Sonuba Montenegro, a dispute was held for the payment of a debt of 9.3 million from the Agreement on Mutual Rights and Obligations based on compensation for the development of construction land. This court accepted the claim of the Municipality in its entirety and obliged the defendant to pay 9.3 million with interest to the Municipality as an advance payment for the development of construction land according to the DUP Maljevik. The judgment was confirmed by the judgment of the High Court, and by the judgment of the Supreme Court it was rejected as an unfounded revision of Sonuba Montenegro.
In 2019, the municipality signed the Proposal for an Agreement on Mutual Rights and Obligations on Maljevik, which wrote off the investor’s debt of nine million euros. In the agreement, Sonuba undertakes to build the hotel complex within 12 years. The date when all the legal conditions for the start of construction have been met, including the fulfillment of the previous conditions and the completion of works on communal equipment, is taken as the date of the start of the works.
On behalf of the Municipality of Bar, this deal was concluded in 2007 by the then president Žarko Pavićević and Anatolij Vasiljevič Gorjanin, the then executive director of Sonuba Montenegro.
Pavićević then said that the DUP obliges the investor to build an exclusive complex with 4 or 5 stars, which will have 80,000 square meters of hotel space, 130,000 square meters of apartments, 35-40,000 square meters of rental villas and a small marina. He said that the money from Maljevik will be invested in the capital infrastructure facilities of bypasses around Bar, and solving the problems of solid waste and wastewater.
They stand behind the agreement with the municipality
In April 2019, the investor announced that so far he has paid EUR 32.5 million for the purchase of 32 hectares of land at the Maljevik location, and he has paid EUR 11.8 million for the fee for the development of the city’s construction land and has been paying it regularly all the time. all your tax obligations and obligations towards JP Morsko dobro.
“At the same time, there were no legal conditions for the implementation of the Maljevik project from 2011 until July 2018, when a detailed planning document for the same location was adopted. The investor firmly stands behind the agreed proposal of the Agreement and the planned investment, as his business determination and strategy, as well as available financial resources – it was announced from Sonuba Montenegro.
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