Land Solana in the draft of the Spatial plan for the coastal area has been declared private property which confirms the suspicion that this is an act of premeditated, unprecedented looting of state property, in which Montenegro will lose close to 15 million square meters of land on the coast, and the state budget for several hundred million euros.

Namely, in the planning document which describes the current state of the Solana, it is stated that the purpose of the zone is industrial, and that the “land and buildings are in private ownership”. In the publicly available data from Ulcinj Cadastre, land Solana is listed as state property, on which the company “Bajo Sekulic” that is in bankruptcy has the right to use. This company has the right to use the land Solana on the basis of a concession for the exploitation of salt, which for several years have not been renewed, nor salt has been exploited.

Preparation of the planning document accompanies almost textbook example of conflict of interest which may result in enormous damage for the state budget. In fact, the development of this plan the Government of Montenegro, through the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, headed by Branimir Govezdenovic, entrusted to a consortium of companies where there is also and a Republic Institute for Urban Planning and Design (RZUP), a private company owned by the Prime Minister’s brother, Aco Djukanovic.

Aco Djukanovic is particularly interested in the development of this plan, because his bank, Prva Banka Crne Gore, on land Solana claimes loans on the basis of mortgage for which the management of salt pans “Bajo Sekulic” used to collect, despite the fact that the land that they gave as the pledge was not their,  but of the state of Montenegro. Here we have the first conflict of interest that would, in any legally regulated country, disable Aco Djukanovic and RZUP to in any way affect the preparation of this planning document.

In addition, in the Government of his brother is ready the decision on the recognition that for the land Solana during the privatization processs is paid the market premium prise. The adoption of this decision on the Privatization Council would be recognized that the 800,000 euros is the market fee for close to 15 million square meters on the coast, the amount the the Eurofond paid for a controlling stake of Solana. In addition, it would enable Prva Bank to activate the mortgages, and its owner, Aco Djukanovic, to come into possession of valuable assets. This is the second conflict of interest that would be the issue of ownership of Solana solved within the family of Prime Minister of Montenegro.

The fact that the Minister Gvozdenovic already in the draft of the plan for the coastal area, the land Solana already categorized as private land, confirms  the suspicion that the agreement between the brothers Djukanovic has already been made and that the development of this plan will finally seizure Solana from the citizens of Montenegro and its grant devastation.

The simultaneous action of the Constitutional Court, the Ministry of Sustainable Development and the Privatization Council demonstrates the extent to which state institutions are subordinated to the private interests of the family of Prime Minister Djukanovic. The Constitutional Court has removed the provision on the protection of Solana, the Ministry of Gvozdenovic actively sabotages efforts to  formally protect Solana with international documents, and propose plans that Solana is “given away” as private property, while the Privatization Council plans to certify one of the biggest robbery in the history of state property in Montenegro.

MANS invites the Montenegrin Prosecutor’s Office that already in the preparatory phase of planning this robbery pay attention to the actions of mentioned institutions and to take appropriate measures in order to prevent that state property worth hundreds of millions is taken away from citizens of Montenegro.

Dejan Milovac
Director of the Research Center of MANS

Source: MANS