09 January 2019 - In the last three years, operators invested around 250 million EUR in electronic communications, said CEO of the Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services, Darko Grgurović.

He thinks that the trend of the positive development of this sector was continued, both in the context of infrastructure and provision of services.

“Investment volume in the last couple of years was higher than the third of total revenues of this sector. For comparison, in the EU states, investments at an annual level range from 12-15% of the revenue in the electronic communications sector,” says Grgurović.

He said that 117 million EUR was invested in 2016, that is, 50,8% of the total revenue of the sector. In 2017, there was around 82 million EUR of investments. Last year 44,8 million EUR were invested, and around 33,7 million EUR are planned for this year. Considering that the greatest operators at the Montenegrin market operate within the world-famous and regional telecommunication groups, it can be stated that they are stable and that a predictable regulatory framework that guarantees further development of the market has been established.

“Montenegro is recognized as a state with favourable business environment, that is improving with years. With NATO accession and with continuous progress in the European integration, Montenegro became even more attractive for the investors in all fields,” said Grgurović.

Huge investments in the sector of electronic communications led to increasing int he number of connections, quality and reduction in service prices.

“Increase in the number of connections caused penetration of the broadband Internet access by 73,4% concerning the number of households. Judging by this indicator, Montenegro came closer to the EU states regarding penetration average which amounted 75% at the end of 2017,” said Grgurović.

By degree of mobile networks signal coverage, Montenegro can be compared to the most developed states of Europe. All the three operators provide 99% of GSM coverage. All these indicators point out the continuous development of technologies and the accessibility of the most contemporary services.

Montenegrin Electronic Communication Operators have invested in the Montenegrin market more than 500 million EUR in the past ten years. Also, the Agency built five facilities for the control and monitoring of radio-frequency spectre, main measurement and control centre, regional measurement and control centre and three remote measurement and control stations in Pljevlja, Rožaje and Kotor.

The company Voli Trade, owned by Dragan Bokan, bought two parcels of the former factory "Radoje Dakić" for EUR 5.65 million, where he plans to build the most modern hypermarket in this part of Europe, according to “Dnevne novine.” Yesterday, Voli said that the bankruptcy administration of the factory confirmed the purchase of 19,960 square meters.

"Today we received information that a decision was made confirming our purchase of a part of the land of the former factory Radoje Dakić," said Voli trade.

One of the largest retail chains in Montenegro will also build a shopping center on the premises of the former factory. 

"We plan to build a state-of-the-art hypermarket in this part of Europe, as well as a shopping center with an exclusive offer, a new and modern trading concept. We also plan to build a new administrative building," said the company. 

At the opening of bids at the Commercial Court at the end of December last year, Mladen Markovic, the bankruptcy administrator of "Radoje Dakic", said that Voli trade was the only interested bidder in the fourth tender, at which the remaining assets of the company were sold at an initial price of almost 45 million euros. The property was first offered for 66.5 million euros, the second time for 60 million and the third for 49 million euros. 

"Voli delivered an offer for the purchase of 10,060 square meters for 2.85 million, while for the remaining 9,900 meters, it offered EUR 2.8 million," Markovic stated at the Commercial Court, adding that the company offered 13 euros more than the initial advertised prices. The factory "Radoje Dakic" from Podgorica has been bankrupt since 2016 due to a tax debt of 10.7 million euros.

Text by Dnevne novine, on January 10th, 2019, read more at CdM

On Tuesday, January 15th, the implementation of the Vocational Training Program for university graduate students begins. The seventh generation, out of 3,298 graduates, through the two liaison circuits, chose an employer for vocational training.

As announced from the Employment Agency of Montenegro, employers offered a total of 11,007 jobs this year, out of which 4,103 are in the private sector and 6,904 in the public sector. More than two-thirds of the offered work positions remained vacant.

The interest of graduate students for the private and public sector is almost equal. With private employers, 1,697 university students will be trained, and 1,601 in the public sector.

During the application period for university students, there were 3,600 college students without work experience in the Employment Agency records.

Let’s recall, through the program of vocational training for persons with faculty education, through the sixteen previous cycles more than 20,000 university students passed. Professional training of participants lasts nine months and is recognized as a work experience of 12 months and as a condition for taking the appropriate professional exam with a university degree.

Up to now, about 52 million euros have been allocated for the implementation of vocational training programs.

According to the analysis carried out by the Ministry of Education, in cooperation with the Tax Administration, about 50 percent of users after completing the Vocational Training Program continue their work engagement with the same or another employer.

Text by CdM, on January 10th, 2019, read more at CdM

Tourist workers in Zabljak are satisfied with the visits during the New Year's holidays. Director of Savin Kuk ski resort, Milutin Tomić does not hide his pleasure and emphasizes that record turnout was recorded during the holidays.

"Every day, during the New Year's holidays, we had from one thousand to one thousand and a half visitors, both skiers and visitors who used our catering facilities. These are mostly guests from Montenegro, but we also had guests from Albania, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Germany," said Tomić to Info Biro.

The manager of the ski trail Javorovača Nikola Rondović agreed with him.

"The ski center Javorovača recorded good visits over these days. There is enough snow. As for the New Year and Christmas holidays, there was a good turnout, and the capacities were fully booked. We have mostly domestic guests and family people. For the New Year's holidays, there were guests from Dubrovnik who came here for the fifth year in a row," said Rondović.

The National restaurant Crno jezero is a place where you can try traditional local cuisine throughout the whole year.

The manager of the restaurant Crno jezero, Dragan Papić, does not hide his pleasure as well. "As far as the winter tourist season is concerned, we are mostly satisfied. The attendance is high, both for New Year and Christmas holidays, and we still have a lot of guests," Papić said.

The manager of hotel Zabljak Dragana Obradovic says this year's visit is better than last year's.

"As for the holidays, there was a huge attendance. As for the current period, we are also happy with the visits. For now, we have more domestic than foreign guests, and the reason is probably that the school break is still on in Montenegro and these are mostly families," she said.

Text by Info Biro, on January 8th 2019, read more at CdM

09 January 2019 - The streets in Podgorica have been covered with snow since the evening of January 8, and the Podgorica Airport is closed for traffic due to heavy snowfall.

"The teams of Airports of Montenegro and Montenegrin Army cleared the airline runway and maneuvering areas during the night and in the early morning, but the heavy precipitation in the morning have managed to create a new snow cover that prevents safe traffic," the representatives of Airport Podgorica explained.

As they highlighted, all teams are still on the ground and are doing everything to get the traffic back to schedule as soon as possible. The representatives of Airports of Montenegro explained that adverse weather conditions - low temperatures - made it slippery at the airport in Golubovci.

This morning, the flight on the Podgorica-Belgrade line which was scheduled for 8:25 am, was canceled. Flights to Ljubljana scheduled for 2:30 pm, 4:35 pm and 5:30 pm, was also canceled. The plane that was scheduled to land in Podgorica from Belgrade at 2:25 pm was diverted to Tivat Airport.

The airline company Montenegro Airlines has recently stated the flight issues due to snowfall. "If the weather conditions improve, Montenegro Airlines will conduct flights tomorrow. We will announce more information in the following period. The flights to and from Belgrade YM102 / 103 still remain in the system, which means that the flights will be realized if the weather conditions are more favorable and Podgorica Airport is opened," Montenegrin Airlines representatives explained for news agency CDM.

Other flights that are scheduled to depart from and arrive at the Airport of Podgorica are on hold.

The program of spatial planning in the Bjelo Polje municipality in 2019 will cost 22,030,181 euros, mostly for the continuation of works on the valorization of the mountain Bjelasica (4.120.000) and Đalovića cave (3.450.000), as well as the construction of a waste treatment plant, (1.169.834 euro).

The funds will be provided from the capital budget of the Municipality (EUR 2.893.000), the operational budget (882.000), loans with the European Investment Bank (40.800), the Directorate of Public Works (9.473.000), the Directorate for Transport (5.420.000) (2.103.147), EIB loan (569.834) and donations for construction of the plant (600.000).

In the construction of facilities of particular importance for the Municipality, EUR 15,179,834 will be allocated.

In the next year, reconstruction of the railway station will begin, for which 300,000 euros is planned, in continuation of works on the valorization of the mountain Bjelasica and Đalovića cave.

For the local infrastructure, 2,182,000 is allocated, which will be spent on the construction of the first phase of the city road in Resnik (228,000), access ramp to the bridge in Njegnjevo with public lighting (50,000), reconstruction of the Museum building (65,000), construction of Mojkovacka Street (150,000), which is also the amount of money for asphalting the municipal roads, which will be invested by the Municipality and the Directorate of Public Works.

160,000 euros will be invested in the construction and reconstruction of the water supply system (Zaton, Kanja, Babić brijeg water supply and reconstruction of water supply Sefersko and Radičko vrelo, and continuation of works on the water supply system Kradenik-Vrba), and for electricity facilities - 2,103,147 euros. 100,000 euros will be spent in the reconstruction of schools, and 50,000 in the city stadium renovation.

They plan to invest 370 thousand euros for the beginning of the construction of the elementary school "Dusan Korać", 150,000 euros for the gymnasium in Njegnjevo, a preschool institution in the upper part of the city 200,000 euros, while for the construction of the wastewater treatment plant 1,169,834 will be invested.

In the relocation of the city water pipeline Rakonje-Ribarevina for the reconstruction of the main road, 420,000 euros will be invested, the reconstruction of the main road Rakonje (traffic lights) - Ribarevine 2,800,000 euros will be invested, and the reconstruction of the same M21 main road, Bar Border bridge Dobrakovo third lane, will see  2,200,000 euros.

Text by Jadranka Cetkovic, on January 8th, 2019, read more at Vijesti

The Secretariat for Development Projects published an announcement for the selection of agents for mediation when applying for Montenegrin citizenship through investments and agents for assessing the international suitability of candidates.

From the Government's Public Relations Service, it was announced that the applications could be submitted until February 1^st, 2019.

"The applicant submits a request for acquiring Montenegrin citizenship by admission based on a special program, through a mediation agent, while the assessment of its international eligibility is carried out by an international rating agency, including proof of the origin of the money. The Secretariat for Development Projects will decide on the selection of agents within 30 days from the date of the public opening of the applications and will be published on the Secretariat's website. After the decision is made, the Government will conclude an agreement with the selected agents, on the basis of which the Secretariat for Development Projects will issue licenses to them, and only on the basis of the licenses issued, the agents can carry out their activities within the said program," the Government explained.

If it is subsequently established that a person who has acquired Montenegrin citizenship by admission in accordance with the decision has provided false information or deliberately concealed facts and circumstances, as well as in case the international eligibility assessment agent has submitted inaccurate data in his report for that person, a decision on loss of citizenship will be made.

"All procedures will be transparent, and, as far as these stages of the process are concerned, the opening of applications will be public. The responsible applicants or their authorized representatives will have the right to attend.

Government Decision on criteria, method, and procedure for the selection of a person who can acquire Montenegrin citizenship by admission for the implementation of a particular investment program of special importance for the economic and business interest of Montenegro is applied from 1^st January 2019. Based on this decision, 2,000 Montenegrin passports can be issued at the top, in the next three years.

The goal of the Government Program is to further accelerate Montenegro's economic development by creating new tourist, agricultural and processing capacities and creating new jobs.

Text by Marija Mirjacic, on January 4th, 2019, read more at Vijesti

January 8, 2019 - The new bus station the Municipality of Herceg Novi is planning to construct at the Šištet site, will be the highlight of the development and improvement of the quality of life of citizens in Igalo, but also the entire city. In the conceptual design solution, the architects from the "Grad" studio defined the surface, the contents and the appearance of this modern bus station and recently presented their work to the leaders of the local government.

 

The first of the three planned stages implies building a central bus station building with a supporting business space. In the next two phases, the investors will develop the premise of accompanying business facilities and maintenance, and the facility of the market center. All of the contents mentioned above connect the greenery and traffic areas in one functional system and ambiance.

07 January 2019 - The Real Estate Administration started drawing up an Address register that will collect records of the numbers of houses, streets and squares and that will be the main focus of the Real Estate Administration in 2019, said the first man of the administration, Dragan Kovačević. The address register is one of the key registers of the e-government and therefore, the importance of its establishment will be multiple.

“Areas in which this register will be particularly important are demographic, economic and territorial statistics, spatial planning, performing activities that fall within the competence of police, Armed Forces, tourism, healthcare, education and many other activities from the everyday life,” said Kovačević.

Real Estate Administration started this project last year, in cooperation with the Statistical Office of Montenegro, local administrations and Ministry of Public Administration of Montenegro.

“The first step in drawing up the Register is that the competent institutions analyze the existing situation at the local and central level, as well as that they recognize the needs of the users of the Address register that is supposed to provide the possibility of fast, efficient and reliable business. With the aim of the future cooperation, Real estate Administration has set up a workshop in the cooperation with the Norwegian Cartography Agency. Based on the experience from the meetings held and the analysis of the current situation, the Real Estate Administration has prepared a comprehensive proposal activities plan. Plan of the implementation of this project has been presented, and all the participants of this program agree with the proposed activities,” explained Kovačević.

Kovačević said that this Register would significantly simplify the implementation of regulations in 2021.

“Together with other data from other relevant registers, this approach will facilitate the organization of activities and reduce financial costs,” said Kovačević.

Source: Cafe del Montenegro

07 January 2019 - According to Dr Veselin Vukotić, the Rector of the University of Donja Gorica, the critical thing in every debt is its connection with the profit that it generates once invested in a particular business. As long as the debt is seen in the context of profit it can generate, there is no negative impact on development.

The University of Donja Gorica hosted traditional Christmas discussions about the economy on January 6th. The topic of the 27th discussions was "Public debt and development“.

The host, Dr Veselin Vukotić, reminded that public debt was one of the causes of the downfall of our civilization. He pointed out that statement that 65% is the endurance limit of the national economy is false.

The debt was discussed in the context of development too.

“As long as the profit from investments of debt is higher than the debt itself, the debt is the stimulus of the development,” says Vukotić.

As he said, the debt refers to future profit, and profit can not be made without investments, innovation and entrepreneurship.

“If the debt is developmental, it makes us think about the future. If it’s aimed at expenditure and maintaining the status quo, political or any other, then it’s dangerous for the development,” said Vukotić.

He also noted that the future “lies in the information society”.

"We need to get two things straight. First, national states are losing power. Second, fight for the preservation of the identity of the states means captivating the vision," pointed out Vukotić.

Quoting the words of Dalai Lama, Vukotić concluded that “Our only possibility to respond to the challenges of today is education”.