Podgorica, 7 October 2010 – Although the action came half-a-year late, MANS salutes the eventual beginning of demolition procedures for illegal objects in the Perazić Do settlement. We hope that the responsible Inspectorate will not limit itself to a few punctured walls, but that in accordance with the law the entirety of the object in question will be removed and that its main investor Mirko Barać and his company ‘MB Bankada’ will be adequately sanctioned.
Likewise, we expect that within the Ministry itself an investigation will be launched to establish why there was a delay of more than six months in implementing the demolition order, and under whose authority was the procedure stalled. Answers to these questions could certainly be addressed by the head inspector Nataša Brajović, as well as her superiors in the Ministry of Spatial Management, including Minister Branimir Gvozdenović.
From the Ministry we are also expecting an answer to the question as to how Barać was allowed to build a five-story building in the first place and what inspector Brajović was doing while the investor began to erect this object; why was there no reaction at the onset of the construction process?
Brajović will be able to answer this and other questions during the investigation undertaken by the responsible prosecutor.
While this is a good first step, the demolition of objects is not the only solution for the problems of illegal construction in Montenegro. The Perazić Do case shows that the issue will not be resolved simply with the demolition of Barać’s building, but that it must be established who it was – that through their actions or lack thereof – allowed the investor to erect the building in the first place, promised him a construction permit and the inclusion of the development into the spatial plan for the district or who in some other way instigated him to commit the crime of illegal construction.
In so far as the Prosecutor’s Office fails to address these questions, the responsible Ministry will continue to employ cadre that has allowed the troubling situation in the spatial organization of Montenegro to reach its current stage. As previously announced, MANS on Monday will submit to the Prosecutor’s Office additional information in the lawsuit against inspector Brajović that also information on other cases in which she was involved.
We will likewise suggest the expansion of the investigation to other senior functionaries in the relevant Ministry.
MANS furthermore condemns yesterday’s incident at the demolition site when the son of the investor, Igor Barać, physically attacked one of the locals, Slobodan Perović. We believe that it is unacceptable for investors that break the law to settle their scores with those who might not agree with them in this way. We expect that the relevant state institutions, primarily the Police Administration will extend its protection to Perović as well as to all those that find themselves targeted by dissatisfied investors.
Dejan Milovac
Director of the Urban Program
