The non-governmental organizations “Matica Boke” and “Miholjski zbor” from Tivat have urgently requested an extraordinary session of the Tivat Municipal Assembly. This follows the Montenegrin Government’s intention to concession both Tivat and Podgorica airports, potentially harming the municipalities of Tivat and Zeta by altering legal frameworks and significantly decreasing local self-governments’ revenues stemming from airport concessions.

The administration of Prime Minister Milojko Spajić (PES) has proposed amendments to the recently prepared Proposal for Amendments to the Law on Financing Local Self-Government. These amendments suggest that municipalities where the state grants concessions for airports, ports, and roads will receive only 70 percent of the concession fees collected from lessees, a notable reduction from the previous 20 percent allocation.

“This amendment alters the revenue-sharing framework related to concession fees for the use of airports, ports, and roads, aiming for a more balanced distribution of this revenue. However, the Government has not clarified what “specificities of the subject of the concession” warrant this significant reduction in municipal revenues in favor of the state treasury,” the Government stated in its initiative explanation.

Notably, the Law on Concessions mandates that concession income be divided between the Government budget and the local governments of the territories involved, following percentages set by the Law on Financing Local Self-Government. Currently, this law and its proposed amendments stipulate that 70% of the concession income generated from general interest goods, including airports, goes to the municipality where the asset is located, with 50% allocated to the relevant port municipalities.

Prime Minister Spajić’s government has unexpectedly decided, in the late stages of a lengthy airport leasing procedure, to drastically alter the terms in a manner detrimental to Tivat and Zeta local governments, thereby substantially limiting these municipalities’ cooperation with the future airport operator.

If the proposed amendments pass parliamentary approval, Tivat and Zeta will bear the brunt of the impact, but municipalities with concessioned seaports, such as Kotor, Herceg Novi, and Bar, will also feel the financial strain. In the future, all municipalities that host highways or expressways under the concession system may be affected.

In a declaration yesterday, NGOs “Matica Boke” and “Miholjski Zbor” expressed that they are urgently seeking a local parliament session regarding these governmental intentions. They noted that “just when we believed that removing the centralist DPS government would improve governance for Tivat and Boka Kotorska through decentralization and regionalization,” the current administration appears to undermine these aspirations while strengthening our resolve to achieve vital economic autonomy for Boka, a key goal of Matica Boke – Tivat branch, along with Miholjski Zbor.”

“We must address the Tivat and Boka Kotorska citizenry regarding the recent attack on the Municipality of Tivat’s budget, evident in the proposed amendments to the Law on Financing Local Self-Government, which threatens to reduce concession revenues from 70% to 20%, allowing the state to claim 80% for its treasury. For example, on a potential Tivat Airport concession worth 50 million euros, current law would allocate 35 million euros to Tivat’s budget—exceeding this year’s total budget. However, with the government’s amendment, Tivat would receive just 10 million euros, resulting in a 25 million euro loss, while the central government would accrue 40 million euros,” the NGOs explained, encouraging Tivat residents to imagine the community improvements that could be financed with the funds now at risk of being redirected to the state.

Matica Boke and Miholjski Zbor also highlighted that the municipality of Zeta faces similar challenges, prompting them to request the Government to retract the controversial amendments from parliamentary consideration.

They reflected on the history of Tivat Airport, originally established on agricultural land in Mrčevac, largely voluntarily donated by local residents to benefit the Municipality of Tivat. This led to the construction of what began as a modest airport, evolving into the modern Tivat Airport through subsequent collaborations. Furthermore, it was noted that prior to Montenegro acquiring the airports in Tivat and Golubovci, documentation indicated that the Municipality of Tivat owned a significant portion of the airport land.

“In 2000, the Municipality of Tivat owned approximately 45% of the land encompassing the airport and its protective zones. After the transfer of ownership from JAT Airways to Aerodrome Crne Gore in April 2003, the Municipality’s claims to the land have notably vanished from discussion, and following the dissolution of the state union with Serbia and Montenegro, Tivat’s stake has not been acknowledged again. Moreover, the fees paid for the confiscated land were solely covered by Tivat’s budget,” emphasized Matica Boke and Miholjski Zbor. They also stated that, in preparations for the concession, the Montenegrin government had seemingly begun transferring large plots of land owned by Tivat into state ownership within the local cadastre.

“Given these circumstances, we believe that a responsible approach to address this potentially significant issue, which could lead to substantial tensions and protests, would be to promptly schedule an extraordinary session of the Tivat Municipal Assembly. This session would allow all political actors representing citizens’ interests to articulate their views on the matter and adopt an appropriate resolution to communicate Tivat Municipal Assembly’s position to both Parliament and the Government of Montenegro,” concluded the statement from Matica Boke – Tivat branch and Miholjski Zbor, signed by their respective board presidents, Ivan Starčević and Zdravko Nišavić.

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