Podgorica (24 March 2011) – The procedures for adopting and enforcing demolition orders issued by the Spatial Protection Inspectorate are burdened by excessive discretionary powers granted to the relevant Ministry. Such powers create spaces for corruption and have resulted in situations where demolition orders issued in 2008 and 2009 are only now being implemented.
At yesterday’s Basic Court hearing against MANS, Inspector Nataša Brajović stated that the actual demolition of the building built illegally by Mirko Barać’s MN Bankada in Perazić Dol is finally scheduled to take place March 30th of this year.
The decision to demolish this building was taken over a year ago by Inspector Brajović (on 20 March 2010 more precisely). This raises the question as to why the Inspectorate waited for an entire year before implementing its decision. One possible answer to this question was furnished by Inspector Brajović herself when she said that she only received the required authorization from the responsible Ministry a few days ago.
Furthermore, Inspector Brajović also mentioned that another reason for not implementing the decision was that many other cases were dealt with during this interval and that a number of other orders from 2008-2009 are only now being implemented. When asked who decides on the implementation of demolition orders, she responded that she drafts a plan that is then submitted to her superiors.
Inspector Brajović could not answer whether or not legal grounds exist for drafting such a plan, except that it is made at the request of her superiors. She also stated that the costs of implementing the demolition order are borne by the Ministry of Sustainable Development (even though they should legally be borne by the investor).
MANS finds it extremely worrying that it is apparently common practice for the Ministry to fail to comply with its own deadlines and that it is only through some unspecified ‘plan of execution’ that the Ministry can decide whether illegal buildings will be immediately demolished or retroactively legalized.
Because of this, MANS has requested specific data on how many demolition orders are still awaiting Ministerial approval – i.e. which binding decisions were not implemented by the former Minister of Urban Planning Branimir Gvozdenović. We also requested that the Ministry make public the plan for implementing decisions taken by Inspector Brajović that should contain precise data on which buildings are slated for demolition in 2011.
MANS has also requested information on the amount of money spent on administratively sanctioned demolitions, which companies were hired for these jobs, as well as the amount of money that the Ministry managed to collect from investors who are legally responsible for bearing these costs.
We think that the current pracices of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism are encouraging those engaged in illegal construction projects to persist with their violations of the law. As the situation on the ground demonstrates even a demolition order issued by the Inspectorate poses no threat to illegal investments.
Dejan Milovac
Deputy Executive Director
