20 February 2019 - Montenegrin Prime Minister Duško Marković has asked the Public Works Directorate to terminate the contract on the construction of a kindergarten in Bar and to arrange the existing location by planting 90 cypresses.
Marković emphasized that at the moment of the discussion about the allocation of financial resources, the municipality has already had a defined location through a valid detailed urban plan, which did not include any objections from any party for its purpose during the public hearing. He added that it was only at the stage of preparation of the site for the commencement of works that an initiative to ban work had appeared which later resulted in civil protests.
"We believed that emotions were not above the need to invest in the future, and as a responsible Government, we wanted the best conditions for children in Bar. We were convinced that, when we are working in the interests of the generations to come in Montenegro, there can be no differences or politics involved," the Prime Minister said.
He announced that he was sorry that a number of citizens of Bar did not recognize the intention to ensure a better quality of their children and grandchildren.
"On the contrary, civil resistance to the project has grown into a political platform that has not been barred by the protests’ organisers. However, this Government will not work against the will of citizens, and especially we will not build kindergartens with police cordons. We will draw the lesson from this situation, which is that sometimes the commitment to build a kindergarten at a planned location is not a guarantee that the citizens want it," Marković emphasized.
He said that the Ministry of Education, in cooperation with the creditor, will redirect the amount of two and a half million euros for the construction of facilities for the same purpose in another city, where the Government already has all the necessary documentation and the agreement on the common interest exists.
Marković pointed out that the selection of a new location in Bar requires complex and long procedures, so he asked the citizens for patience while creating planning, project and other conditions for the construction of a new kindergarten.
"The Bar Municipality has a very pronounced problem of lack of space in preschool institutions. In two school years, the number of children in kindergartens increased by 50 percent. Namely, in the school year 2015/2016, 940 children were enrolled in Bar, and this school year there is already 1,391 children, "the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister recalled that recognizing the problem of insufficient spatial capacities in preschool institutions in Montenegro, the previous Government with the Council of Europe Development Bank signed in December 2013 a credit arrangement worth 10 million EUR for the construction of seven kindergartens. The total value of the projects with the participation of the state is 17 million EUR.
Source: TVCG
