A few years ago, Bemax company used the state work of the reconstruction of Berane-Lubnice road for its private business by installing pipes for the needs of one of the small hydroelectric power plants, which it was building in that area at the time.
It is a small HPP “Bistrica”, one of six which “Bemax” built in Berane and for which consumers are already paying electricity subsidies. All HPPs are run by the Berane-based company “Hidroenergija Montenegro”, in which “Bemax” had ownership share while they were being built.
It is unknown in what amount the installation of the pipeline into the regional road reduced the costs of “Bemax” for its private investment, or why the government allowed the state and private project to be implemented as one. Also, the question is whether the installation of the pipeline affects the road stability, because it includes telecommunication and electrical installations, as well as a local water supply system.
“The pipeline under pressure is installed into the Berane-Lubnice road on its right side, at a considerable height above the river bed. The pipeline is composed of three different internal diameters of pipes DN 1600, DN 1500 and DN 1400, of equal lengths, around 1387 meters”, it is stated in the documentation for the private project of the small HPP “Bistrica”, which is in the possession of the MANS Public Finance Programme.
Price of the road grew from 2.9 to €4.9 million
State project for the reconstruction of Berane-Lubnice road was financed by the Traffic Directorate, which after the conducted tender awarded the job to “Bemax” company for a price a little less than €4.9 million. The contract was concluded in April 2013 and “Bemax” was to complete the works by July of the following year.
“Bemax” got a job worth €4.9 million on the repeated tender of the Traffic Directorate.
The previous tender for the same job was announced in August 2012. “Bemax” applied for this tender as an independent bidder and announced that it will hire “Arso Milić” company from Podgorica as a subcontractor. It offered a price of €2.9 million for the reconstruction of the road, and the Directorate assigned him the job in October of the same year.
However, the decision was soon annulled by the Commission for the Control of Public Procurement Procedures, which found that Bemax as an independent bidder had to have a license for plumbing and hydro-technical work. Its subcontractor “Arso Milić” had this license.
The Directorate then annulled the tender and announced the new one at the end of 2012, and at the beginning of 2013, “Bemax” once again got the job. It applied for the new tender in a consortium with Arso Milić, which again secured the necessary license. However, “Bemax” increased the price of work on the new tender by as much as two million Euros, i.e. to €4.9 million.
The Directorate had the legal possibility to cancel the tender, but did not do so.
Prior to the completion of works, the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism issued a permit for the construction of small HPPs
Just before the expiration of the deadline for the completion of works, in June 2014, the Ministry of Sustainable Development issued a permit for the construction of small HPP “Bistrica”, and the same month, “Bemax” proposed to the Traffic Directorate to extend the deadline for completion of the reconstruction of Berane-Lubnice road, and to reconstruct the city water supply along this route, for an additional €734 thousand.
It sent the offer ten months after it broke the pipes of the city water pipeline 11 times by carrying out works on the same road, which led to massive poisoning of the citizens of Berane.
After the offer of Bemax, the Government also joined and approved the annex to the contract for reconstruction of the water supply system with its decision. At the same time, the deadline for completion of work was extended to November 2014. However, this deadline was also not met, instead, on the grounds that the works were interrupted due to the winter period, it was extended to May 2015.
By that period, “Bemax” built the small HPP “Bistrica” and received a usage permit for it.
There was no answer to questions by Vijesti from the Podgorica-based company whether the pipes for small HPPs were installed at the time of reconstruction, and whether the instalment of pipes was the reason for the extension of works on the reconstruction of Berane – Lubnice road. They also did not answer the question whether small HPP “Bistrica” is the property of that company.
The government did not answer the question by Vijesti on whether the authorities ever sought accountability for spending nearly two more million Euros, or whether they were invested in the construction of the small HPP owned by Bemax.
Additional half a million for unplanned works
May 2015 did not mark the end of works on the reconstruction of the regional road Berane-Lubnice. In the meantime, Bemax proposed to build two bridges on the road for the price of €424 thousand. At the same time, it asked additional €472 thousand for unforeseen works, but data of the Public Finance Programme show that the unforeseen works concerned the same work, i.e. the same two bridges.
Despite this, with new decision, the Government approved conclusion of a new annex to the contract with Bemax for an additional price of almost €900 thousand and a new deadline for completion by October 2015, when they were completed.
All annexes to the contract on increasing the price of labour were signed by the then Minister of Transport, Ivan Brajović.
Bearing in mind that the basic contract was concluded at €4.9 million, and the annexes increased it by additional 1.6 million, which is 33% of the basic price of the work, and that the Law on Public Procurement stipulates that basic price of the work based on unforeseen works can only be increased by 15%, it is clear that by the inclusion of the Government, this legal restriction was deliberately circumvented.
Part of works without construction permit
Technical inspection of the carried out works on Berane-Lubnice road was done by the Nikšić-based company “Mehanizacija i Programat”, hired by the Berane Municipality.
The technical review report states that Bemax changed the main reconstruction project several times and that the works were carried out in accordance with those changes.
The report indicates that two newly constructed bridges and works related to the local water supply were not subject to the issued construction permit, and “therefore they are not subject of this technical inspection”. In spite of this, it was suggested to issue the use permit, done by the Ministry of Sustainable Development in November 2015.
The technical report does not mention the installation of the pipeline into Berane-Lubnice road for the small HPP Bistrica.
Ines Mrdović (MANS)
Damira Kalač (Vijesti)
