Today 13 deputies in front of the 10 parliamentary political parties submitted to the parliamentary procedure MANS’s draft of the Decision on the establishment of the Committee to monitor and control the project of building the highway Bar-Boljare.
The signatories of the proposal Decision are: Jelisava Kalezic, Miodrag Lekic, Goran Danilovic, Zoran Miljanic, Andrija Popovic, Vladislav Bojovic, Branka Bosnjak, Neven Gosovic, Dritan Abazovic, Snezana Jonica, Janko Vucinic, Srdjan Peric, and Milutin Djukanovic.
With today’s submission of the proposal to the parliamentary procedure the conditions are created for the Parliament to establish a committee to monitor the implementation of all aspects of the construction of the highway, the biggest and most expensive infrastructure project in Montenegro, whose first phase is worth about a billion US dollars.
Given the fact that now are met all procedural requirements, we hope that the President of the Parliament Ranko Krivokapic will urgently convene a meeting of the Parliament for the end of July 2015, and that as the agenda of that session will be put the draft of the Decision on the establishment of the Committee for the monitoring and control of the project of building the highway Bar – Boljare. In this way, the Parliament would ensure that the new Committee already in September starts to work, or to control the construction of the highway.
How important is that the monitoring and control of the construction of the highway urgently begin, the best evidenced the information that could be heard today in Parliament that the process of selection of subcontractors for the various phases of construction already is in progress. So we could hear today in the Prime Minister’s that the Chinese company with some local companies have already signed contracts, that with some of them negotiation are at the final stage, and among those names could be heard and the names of tycoon construction companies reputed for those very close top Montenegrin authorities, as Bemax.
This means that financial expenses for the construction of the highway will further intensify in a very short period of time, and it is the urgent need to ensure parliamentary control of this project, particularly bearing in mind the value of the project and the huge amount of money that can be misused if the adequate control is not provided.
Also, a thing that the new committee should already be familiar with is primarily a feasibility study on the basis of which the section of the highway Smokovac – Matesevo is selected as a priority, as well as which profile of the motorway will be built and for how much money. The study should give answers to the questions on what were the alternatives to something that the Government has chosen to do, and what were the costs and cost-effectiveness of these alternatives.
In addition, the Committee should already be familiar with all payments already made for the expropriation of land on which labor camps are built, as well as land on which preparatory work on access roads is carried out at the port on the preference section. In this regard, it is important to look at the decisions on establishing the public interest and all decisions and agreements on compensation that have been adopted so far, and the total figure that was paid so far.
The Committee already could be familiar with work organization at the site, ie. how many workers are employed and how many of them are in the category for which the Government has provided relief from taxes and contributions. Also, bearing in mind that the Chinese company has imported a number of construction machinery for the construction of the highway, the Committee could be informed with the procedure of exemption from customs duties in accordance with the Law on the highway, and the total amount of cash that had to be paid by the Chinese partner, that are so far released of those payments by the Government.
So far concluded contracts with subcontractors could also be a subject of interest of the Committee, their values and the amount of financial benefits arising from these contracts. In particular, for the Committee could be important contracts signed with local and foreign companies on the supply of various materials, ranging from fuel, concrete and steel, to the everyday needs of the workforce at the construction site.
Because of all mentioned, once again we invite the President of the Parliament of Montenegro Ranko Krivokapic to urgently convene a session of the Parliament for the end of July and thus enable a Decision on the establishment of the Committee to monitor and control the project of construction of the highway Bar – Boljare to be adopted before the start of the summer recess of the Parliament.
We believe it is the duty of all members of the Parliament, regardless of which party they belong, to support the establishment of joint Committee that would monitor the construction of the highway and thus protect money and interests of Montenegrin citizens.
MANS
