JU Cultural Center "Nikola Djurkovic" Kotor, the city library and reading room, is organizing a Municipal Recital Competition for primary and secondary schools on the occasion of World Poetry Day, on March 21^st, at 1 p.m. in the Cinema "Boka".

The competition will take place in three categories: First category - elementary school pupils from the first to the fifth grade, 2nd category - elementary school students from the sixth to the ninth grade and the third category - high school students.

In 1999 UNESCO proclaimed March 21^st as the World Poetry Day highlighting that "the purpose of having a World Poetry Day is to contribute to the promotion of reading, writing, publishing and teaching poetry throughout the world, as well as the promotion of national, regional and international poetic movements."

The city library and reading room in Kotor joins the celebration of this significant date by encouraging young fellow citizens to show talent in the lovely poetry recitals, to cherish the love for poetry and to develop the right attitude towards art and culture.

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Text by CdM, on March 18th 2019, read more at CdM

After several delays, the 23^rd Festival of Wine and Ukljeva fish will be held this weekend in Virpazar. The festival program will open on Saturday, March 22^nd at 11 a.m. with the folklore performances of KUD "Jedinstvo”, chorus "Via profesori" and band "Zana", and at 2.30 p.m. awards will be given for the best songs about wine. The award-winning authors are Slobodan Vucinic from Podgorica, Sonja Milatovic from Niksic and Zarko Marovic from Virpazar. The decision was made by a jury consisting of Goran Radoicic, a literary critic, and members Rajko Jolicic, a poet and humorist, and Dragisa Simovic, an actor.

Then, on Saturday, they are followed by a concert of Dino Beharovic and "D band" and kayak regatta.

On Sunday, from 11 am, the folklore from Bar FA "Rumija" and KUD "St. Jovan Vladimir", Nina Strugar and "Crvena jabuka" will perform. At 2.30 p.m. awards for the best wines will be given, and the festival closes with the concert by Gula and Katapult.

The organizers of this popular event are MZ Crmnica, Association of winemakers "Crmnicki vranac", NGO "Days of Lake Skadar", with the support of Bar Municipality and TO Bar.

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Text by Radomir Petric, on March 19th, 2019, read more at Vijesti

March 20, 2019 - Photography of heavy construction works in Veslo Bay on the Luštica peninsula, in the belt to the sea itself, has disturbed the Bokelian public in recent days. In the responses of the Municipality of Herceg Novi to the journalists' questions, it is evident that the local administration does not know who is here and what they are building. But, the local administration stated that there is no relevant urban planning documentation for the site in question, from which it can be concluded that these works are being carried out illegally.

19 March 2019 - Budućnost Voli’s 19-year-old centre Goga Bitadze was voted the best young player of the 2019-19 ABA League campaign. He claimed the title in front of Crvena Zvezda‘s 20-year-old Boriša Simanić and Petrol Olimpija’s 19-year-old Luka Samanić.

Bitadze averaged 16.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, two blocks and 20 PIR per game, which was also the third-highest rating amongst all players this season. He played the first part of the season with Mega Bemax before being loaned to the Montenegrin club.

Young Goga Bitadze of Budućnost VOLI is the best young player of the season in the ABA League, has won this title in the voting contest of the head coaches of ABA League teams, ABA League fans and the ABA League commission.

The excellent centre of the Podgorica side, who began the season with Mega Bemax has finished the voting with a total of 42% combined votes, ahead of Boriša Simanić of Crvena Zvezda mts, who had 24% and Luka Šamanić of Petrol Olimpija, who finished the voting with 15,5% of combined votes.

To determine the final results of the votes, the votes of the ABA League head coaches counted 60%, the votes of the fans 30% and the votes of the ABA League Commission 10%.

Let’s also mention that Goga Bitadze was the best in the voting of both fans and head coaches of the ABA League sides, which makes his achievement even more impressive. He also got the vote of the ABA League commission.

For Goga Bitadze this has been the second season in the ABA League and first with Budućnost VOLI, and it has for sure been the one in which he gained full affirmation, as he became the undisputed leader of both of his squads, for which he played this season. The 19-year old was averaging 16.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, two blocks, 0.9 assists and a valuation of 20 per game, which is also the third highest valuation amongst all players this season in the ABA League. Therefore, we can conclude that he has earned himself the Top Prospect title.

Source: EuroHoops

19 March 2019 - Port Kotor should have limitations when it comes to the size and number of ships residing in the port, says the Board of the Association of Naval Captains of Montenegro Kotor.

According to the News Agency RTCG, the reason for their reaction was the project which plans to create adequate infrastructure prerequisites for safe and secure reception and servicing of modern passenger vessels. According to the business plan of Port Kotor, new investments in technical and technological solutions related to the construction of a new system for the mooring of cruise ships on pylons should technologically improve port infrastructure. The realization of this project should increase the capacity to accept vessels to the port safely and securely. The primary goals of the project include installation of mooring buoys, expanding marine capacity by placing new pontoons and creating conditions for the service of passengers of ships tied to the pylon.

After the construction of the planned projects, a berth for two ships of 250-300 metres in length and two smaller ships will be provided, it is stated in the business plan that was accepted by the Montenegrin Government, and by which Port Kotor was awarded the first concession. The construction of the pylon in the sea at about 100 meters from the completion of the current operational coastline at Luža and the installation of mooring buoys for cruisers in the aquatorium in front of Dobrota will cost together about three million euros, while planned investments will improve the marine port capacity of the yacht receipt for about half a million euros.

"These projects dramatically reduce manoeuvring space for mega cruisers in the aquatorium, which greatly increases the risk of marine casualties, including the risk of pollution of the marine environment. By completing them, Port Kotor, as the main carrier responsible for the ships’ safety, accepts this genuine and enormous risk in advance. Acceptance of such risks implies that the Port also agrees to great expenses in relations to damages collection, "said the representatives of the Association of Naval Captains of Montenegro Kotor.

They add that the actual depth alongside Luža (for which Port Kotor guarantees that it is safe) is of questionable safety for mega cruisers and that any increase in depth would call into question the static of Luža itself or the safety of berths for such large ships.

March 19, 2019 - The traditional manifestation "Camellia Festival Stoliv 2019" starts in Stoliv, Kotor on Saturday 23 March at 10 am at the Art and Literature Workshop in Nature called "Camellia in the Heart of Boka."  The festival will, like every year, include various programs, which in Stoliv attract the lovers of this flower and Boka Bay from the countries of the region, but also in other parts of Europe. This year, guests come from German Aachen and Opatija, an old Croatian tourist star whose trademark is the camellia flower. 

The most guests of the Institute Dr. Simo Milosevic in Igalo, where 223 thousand overnight stays were made last year, are Montenegrin patients, then Norwegians, Swedes, and Germans. This was said to "Vijesti" by the marketing director of the Institute Nikola Mracevic, adding that last year was successful, although not surpassing the record year of 1989, when there were 421 thousand overnight stays.

The Institute celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. Executive Director Gordana Rajovic said that they expect this year to be successful. She said that among the essential programs was the treatment of Norwegian patients at the Institute in Igalo at the expense of their country, explaining that this cooperation has lasted for four decades. The first group of Norwegians, announced Rajovic, will come to Igalo in April.

"This year, an agreement was signed on the treatment of patients from Libya who will come in groups to Igalo throughout the year," Rajovic said.

Negotiations on the sale of the Institute Dr. Simo Milosevic are in progress. The consortium of the Czech company Philibert and the hotel and tourism company from Petrovac Villa Oliva owned by the businessman Zarko Rakcevic, offered ten million euros for 56.48 percent of the state shares of the Institute "Simo Milosevic" in Igalo and 27.94 million euros for the investments in the next five years.

The management of the Institute expects that after the forthcoming privatization, the Institute will retain and develop its core business and that all 607 full-time employees and a hundred more seasonal will continue to work in this renowned institution following general and branch collective agreements. Medical Doctor Marina Delic says that the Institute is recognizable for treating rheumatisms, rehabilitating patients with neurological and cardiac disorders, with respiratory illnesses and after sports injuries.

She pointed out that the Igalo Institute is one of the largest and most well-known institutions for a multidisciplinary spa treatment in the Mediterranean, thanks to the constant improvement of existing and introduction of new treatment and rehabilitation programs. The guests and patients of the Institute were many well-known figures: writers, painters, actors, athletes, scientists and politicians from the former Yugoslavia, but also the world.

Although even in 1875 the Austro-Hungarian military physicians wrote about mineral, medicinal sources in Igalo, the Institute was officially founded in 1949 at the initiative of Dr Svetozar Zivojinovic. The Institute was then called the "Adriatic Natural Spa", and the treatments were initially used at only 55 square meters surface.

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Text by Slavica Kosic, on March 18th, 2019, read more at Vijesti

The company “Port Kotor”, which received a concession from the Government for the management of the aquatorium and the operational coastal area of the port in Kotor for the next 12 years, plans to realize a total investment program worth EUR 5.053.440 during this period.

The port will pay the state a fixed annual concession fee of 250 thousand euros, plus a variable amount of the concession fee of 5 percent EBIDTA (realized profit without interest, taxes and depreciation costs).

In the business plan of this company, majority owned by the Municipality of Kotor, it is stated that out of the total investment program planned, in the first three years of the duration of the concession, 4,328,440 euros will be invested. 

The largest part of the investment program (4,546,440 euros) refers to investment in fixed assets, 350,000 will be spent to improve the status of the port system, while 157,000 euros will be spent on the preparation of project documentation.

In order to realize these investments, the joint-stock company “Port Kotor” will invest more than 3.3 million euros of its funds, and plan two credit loans in the amount of one million i.e. 750,000 euros, with a re-payment deadline period of eight years, a grace period of two years and an interest rate of 4.5 percent.

According to the so-called real business plan scenario, the Port of Kotor expects to have a total income of almost EUR 46.2 million and a total profit of over six million during the 12-year duration of the concession.

Estimation of total revenues for the duration of the concession in the so-called optimistic scenario is over 50.3 million euros, i.e., the total profit of slightly over nine million euros.

In addition to the existing ones, they plan to open 18 new permanent and 6 seasonal jobs.

Port Kotor is based almost exclusively on the acceptance and servicing of large passenger cruisers on the so-called circular tourist trips, whereby Kotor is third in terms of traffic in the Adriatic and one of the leading cruises in the Mediterranean.

"According to the Cruise Lines International Association - CLIA, in 2017 nearly 7 million Europeans decided on one of the round trips, and the global number was 26.7 million people, confirming that cruise trips became an alternative to a classic holiday at land. The concept of cruise trip as part of the tourist activity, according to economic, sociological, psychological, political and other connotations, is a phenomenon that will, by the volume of transactions, approach container transport, the oil and car industry," reads the business plan of Port Kotor.

It is noted that the market in which they operate grows at an average rate of 4.3 percent annually and that the accelerated collapse of the cruising industry imposes the need to create adequate infrastructure prerequisites for safe and secure reception and servicing of modern passenger vessels whose size is also continuously growing. "New investments in technical and technological solutions related to the construction of a new system for the mooring of cruise ships on pylons, which will technologically improve port infrastructure, so their realization will increase the capacity to accept vessels to the port in a safe and secure way; installation of mooring buoys; expanding marine capacity by placing new pontoons; creating conditions for the service of passengers of ships tied to the pylon. So far, they have been able to bind two or up to three medium size ships (150-200 meters in length), while ships over 200-350 meters in diameter were at the anchorage.

After the construction of the planned projects, a berth for two ships of 250-300 meters in length and two smaller ships will be provided, it is stated in the business plan that was accepted by the Montenegrin Government, and by which Port Kotor was awarded the first concession. The construction of the pylon in the sea at about 100 meters from the completion of the current operational coastline at Luza and the installation of mooring buoys for cruisers in the aquatorium in front of Dobrota will cost together about three million euros, while planned investments will improve the marine port capacity of the yacht receipt for about half a million euro.

Pylon and mooring buoys for which the technical project is already finished will significantly increase the level of safety of ships residing in Kotor, especially in adverse weather conditions. It will also contribute to the reduction of air pollution from exhaust gases from ship propulsion systems, which, unlike the current situation when large cruisers in Kotor remain mostly anchored with the so-called dynamic maintenance of the position with performance of the machines, the bow, and stern thrusters, will not be so long and intensively used during the ship's stay in the port.

Since the concession act has brought a number of new business opportunities as it guarantees a monopoly status for performing some activities in the leased aquatorium and the land part, AD Port Kotor also plans to carry out significant investments in the purchase of new passenger boat which will transport passengers on buoys of anchored cruisers to the coast and back.

According to the data on the share capital structure of Port Kotor, the joint stock company, as of December 31^st, 2017, the largest share - 56,97% is owned by the Municipality of Kotor. The Fund PIO is the owner of 17.51, and to the Employment Agency of Montenegro belongs 5.87% of the shares. After the collective custody account of CKB, there are owners of 10 percent of the capital. Among the individuals, one of the larger owners of Port Kotor is its former employee, SDP leader Ranko Krivokapic, who owns 1.99 percent of shares. Among the shareholders is the former leader of the Port and former Mayor of Kotor, Nikola Konjevic (DPS), who owns 0.86 percent of shares, businessman Vojin Lazarevic with 0.54 percent of total capital. Employees and citizens hold a total of 5.04 percent of shares of AD Port Kotor.

The Director of the Port Kotor Administrative Sector, Snezana Jonica (SNP), announced that the value of Krivokapic's shares increased for one year and a half by 111,917 euros "thanks to our" poor "management of Port Kotor", thus responding to the allegations of the local SDP.

"On the day when the new Board of Directors was elected in July 2017, the shares of Ranko Krivokapic had a market value of 106,398.6 euros, and on March 16^th, 2019 - 218,316.2 euros," Jonica made the comparison her Facebook profile.

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Text by Sinisa Lukovic, on March 18th, 2019, read more at Vijesti

The city company “Zelenilo” renewed the children's playground in Radosav Buric street, in the Zabjelo district of Podgorica, and improved the surrounding area.

"With all the efforts invested in regular servicing of children's devices, vandalism and the inappropriate use of them led to rapid deterioration and their breaking, and therefore the playground in Radosav Buric street, unfortunately, could no longer fulfill its basic function, so the decision was made that the playground’s damaged mobile objects, which was only a potential threat, needed to be removed. “Zelenilo” has made great efforts to repair the removed playground’s devices for the youngest and today they have been returned to this area," stated the Capital.

In addition to the installation of the playground’s devices, the area has been enriched with new seedlings.

"We appeal to our fellow citizens to treat the built-in mobile objects and planted seedlings as their possessions, which they are, preserve them and adequately use them so that their functionality can be maintained for as long as possible," concluded the statement.

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Text by Vijesti online, on March 18th 2019, read more at Vijesti

18 March 2019 - The gates of the most famous Budva beach, Mogren, has over decades been guarded by the famous bronze ballerina. She is peacefully standing in the same position and watching over the blue sea horizon of the Adriatic Sea.

The sculpture has become a symbol of Budva, and it is one of the main tourist attractions. There are almost no tourists or locals who at least once did not take a picture by the end of the famous Mogren ballerina.

When you start walking from the Old Town to the beautiful Mogren beach, this popular symbol of Budva, which is the work of the Belgrade sculptor Gradimir Aleksić, will welcome you on the very beginning of your journey.

With the old town walls and the famous beaches, beach Richard's head is in ballerina's background, which has always been a perfect motive for postcards sent from these parts with the certain words: "Hello from Budva!"

Aleksić's sculpture was inspired by an old local myth about a girl who was engaged to the sailor, who sailed away a long way to earn money so the two can live together. He never returned, and the girl remained faithful to him and came to this wall every morning to watch the sea.

She had been waiting for him for years until one morning they found him dead on the rock where the famous statue is located today.

"When you are in Budva old town you should take a walk around the Peninsula. There is the lovely ballerina statue with a backdrop of the city, and it leads to a nice beach. It is also a great chance to let your hair down and make some ballerina impressions for your holiday photo album," said tourist that was amazed by the Mogren Beach Ballerina.