The proposed Law on Planning and Construction will facilitate the absolute centralization of decision-making and control in the area of spatial development and widely open door to corruption. Urban planning, an area that in our case, in the documents of the European Commission, has already been seen as a very sensitive to corruption, will now be managed by even narrower circle of decision-makers, so the number of persons that will be necessary to corrupt will be significantly reduced.
By proposing such a law, the Government of Montenegro completely takes over the authority for planning and development, which is in conflict with the Constitution because it abolishes the jurisdiction of municipality in terms of spatial planning. This proposal is in contradiction with the European Charter of Local Self-Government, as it limits the rights of local government.
In addition, the proposed law is in contradiction with the Law on Local Self-Government, the Law on the Capital City and the Law on the Royal Capital, where the responsibilities of the local authorities in the area of spatial planning area are clearly defined.
In this way, previous local planning documents such as the municipal spatial plan, detailed urban plan, site studies and urban project are reversed, while the so-called general regulation plans for the northern, central and southern region of Montenegro are introduced.
The new planning documents proposed by the government do not encompass all that the interests of local governments and communities, but it certainly can be a breeding ground for corruption and space planning in accordance with the needs and interests of individual investors.
We perfectly see through the intention of the new government to use the new law to completely exclude local governments from the decision-making process, because we have seen that local governments were the only obstacle to the fulfilment of promises that the state had made to “strategic investors”.
When we talk about specific projects, the government will now independently, without interference from municipalities, decide what will happen with sites such as Ulcinj Saltworks and Valdanos, Queen’s Beach between Bar and Budva, Plavi horizonti, Mamula, the island of Sveti Marko, and numerous locations in the central and the northern region of the country, where “strategic investors” and other privileged parties that have land awaiting valorization.
Unfortunately, if the law is adopted in this form, the municipal administration and the citizens will only become helpless observers of urban anarchy that will undoubtedly occur when such a government fully takes over the spatial planning.
The law itself contains numerous problematic solutions, and one that is perhaps the most obvious is that it abolishes the obligation of investors to obtain a building permit before the construction begins, and to request a use permit after the completion.
The system that is now proposed by the government, according to which it is necessary to provide the application for works with the control by inspection instead of the building permit, is completely untenable and it is almost unbelievable to even consider it, having in mind the existing capacities of the relevant inspections. The current number of inspectors, which barely exceeds ten when taking into consideration all inspections related to spatial planning and construction of facilities, is absolutely insufficient for control a suburb, let alone the whole territory of Montenegro
The way in which individual solutions are defined in the law do not leave room for doubt that the document was made in accordance with the private and not the public interest. Important issues, such as resource management, is not something that can be planned in a „police manner“ which adorns the new prime minister, and they can certainly not be arranged in cabinets of Dusko Markovic’s government without the participation of the public.
The law in this form must be withdrawn from the procedure, because its adoption would lead to serious, irreparable consequences in the system of spatial planning and construction.
Dejan Milovac
Director of MANS Investigation Center
