Thanks to the amendments in the Government’s planning document, the construction company “Čelebić” will be able to build twice as many apartments for the market than before on the Mihinja hill in Podgorica. In this way, the value of the formerly state-owned land purchased by this company without a public tender was further increased, according to an analysis by the MANS Investigative Centre.
At the beginning of November, the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism (MSDT) put forward for public discussion the amendments to the Local Site Study (LSS) of “Mihinja”, a planning document that addresses the subject site located at the exit from Podgorica, towards Cetinje. This area became known to the general public after MANS revealed earlier this year that Čelebić had purchased close to 170,000 square meters of state-owned land on Mihinja hill, without a previously announced tender and at a price far below the market one.
Podgorica’s Dedinje or new “City kvart”?
Only a few months after it registered itself on the state parcels, “Čelebić” company initiated amendments to the plan for the land, as stated in the Decision on Drafting of Amendments to the Local Study of the Mihinja Site, adopted at the Government session in October last year. At that time, the reason for the amendments to the plan was the request of Čelebić for “detailed elaboration on the subject plots to be done in order to define conditions, guidelines and urban parameters for the implementation of the planning solution without conducting a competition, through drafting of the new planning solution”. In addition, the company requested that certain adjustments be made to the urban plots on which it owns land, as stated in a memo sent to MSDT.
After the first one, the Government adopted another decision at the end of the year, which provided for an amendment of the entire plan.
Nevertheless, the analysis of the draft new plan shows that the biggest amendments relate precisely to the plots that Čelebić purchased from the state. If the plan is adopted, Čelebić could build buildings with basement, ground floor and four floors (B+GF+4) at the largest plot under the plan, while the current plan allows the construction of the single-floor buildings (B+GF+1).
Part of the plan in blue indicates that only on the land owned by “Čelebić” buildings with nine apartments will be built
The fact that the protection of Čelebić’s interests is behind these amendments is confirmed in the document itself, which states that it is necessary to “increase the density of housing in the plots of that company in order to achieve the basic level of economic justification for the construction”. Thus, on two urban plots on which the company “Čelebić” owns the largest land area, the draft envisages the construction of 800 apartments, compared to the currently allowed 350.
Also, instead of the now allowed construction of 81 thousand m2 of housing space, the new plan envisages the construction of 169 thousand m2 of residential and office space, while the purpose of the space is changed from “low density housing” into “mixed”.
Regarding the rest of the draft plan covering Mihinja Hill, it is stated that “in the northern and north-eastern parts bordering agricultural land, it is possible to guarantee the exclusivity of low-density housing, therefore, the previous planning solution is generally the same in this part. “
When “Čelebić” purchased 170,000 square meters of land without a tender last year, the economic viability of the urban plan for Mihinja Hill was not called into question. “The idea is to build an individual housing village similar to the ones in developed parts of Europe. It is an elaborated concept of living in the most natural environment with available amenities that complement this lifestyle (playgrounds, promenades, greenery, etc.)”, the company said at the time.
When asked whether they took into consideration these amendments to the plan when they purchased the land from the state, and whether they had any other communication with Prime Minister Duško Marković’s office, until the publication of this text, the MANS Investigative Centre did not receive a response from the “Čelebić“ company.
MANS has previously warned that amendments to planning documents, which are initiated immediately after the sale of state property, are detrimental to the public interest. In this case, the amount for which the State would be damaged would be equal to the difference between the price paid by Čelebić for these parcels and the price that could have been reached in the public tender. This difference and the damage to the public interest will become even greater if the Government, by amending the planning document, increases the value of the Čelebić plots. The public hearing for this planning document runs until November 27.
Lazar Grdinić
MANS Investigative Centre
Criminal complaints still without an answer
On suspicion that by allowing Čelebić company to buy off state parcels without a tender he misused his official position, MANS filed a criminal complaint earlier this year against Blažo Šaranović, director of the Property Administration of Montenegro. The criminal complaint also included members of the commission that worked on the evaluation of the land, Dragan Kovačević, Slavko Simović and Zoran Senić. Even after more than half a year, MANS has not been informed whether the competent prosecution had taken any action on the criminal complaint.
Lucrative mixture of business and politics
“Čelebić” company is owned by Tomislav Čelebić, a businessman from Podgorica who has nurtured close relations with the very top officials for years, which is confirmed by the fact that he and Montenegro’s president are in the management structure of the company “Univerzitats”, which manages the University of Donja Gorica. Čelebić and Milo Đukanović each own 25% of the company’s shares.
Tomislav Čelebić and Duško Marković at a Champions League match
Following the resignation of the Minister Pavle Radulović, the Prime Minister Duško Marković took over the tasks of coordinating the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, including completing the plan for Mihinja, of which Čelebić would benefit most. That Čelebić has a close friendship with Duško Marković is also evidenced by the footage from the 2016 Champions League final game, showing the two of them celebrating Atletico Madrid’s goal at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in Milan.
