Although the government, relevant ministries and investor announced construction works at the Plavi Horizonti complex were expected to begin, it seems the project implementation has been jeopardised, Dnevne Novine learns from sources close to the company.
The reason is, as they state, the fact that one of the largest cadastral plots of 40,000 square meters at the Plavi Horizonti location was taken away from Qatari Diar, ie QD Hotel and Property Investment Montenegro d.o.o. It has been registered with the previous owner – the Tourism Company Primorje and the state of Montenegro. According to the company, the cadastre did it without making any decision and with no notification to the investor about seizing its property.
“The company purchased the parcel at the beginning of 2014 for about €1.4m. A contract on the purchase was verified at the office of a public notary. Then it was established that there are no restrictions or other issues related to the parcel. By the final ruling of the Real Estate Directorate made on April 2014, Qatari Diar became the sole owner of that parcel. The decision about that is still valid and has never been changed or reversed. There was no extraordinary procedure brought against this decision either,” the DN’s source said.
The source added that the law was violated in the process, stating that without the alteration of the decision or the court proceedings, ie without compensation, no owner (in this case Qatari Diar) can be deprived of immovable property.
Although the company was supposed to apply for a building permit for a hotel, one of the biggest investments in Montenegro has been jeopardised again. It is quite certain that the investor is preparing to leave Montenegro.
As a reminder, earlier there had been speculations that the investor would withdraw from Montenegro. However, the new managers of the company denied this in October last year. As they said, they accelerated the development of project documentation to start the construction as soon as possible – in April or May this year.
In early December, the investor submitted a request for the issuance of the first building permit. It was issued five months later – in April this year. DN learns that the project documentation for the hotel and infrastructure has been completed and that it was to be submitted to the Ministry of Sustainable Development in late August.
“However, the new situation has led to the delay in starting construction. Investor’s confidence in the legal system and the work of competent authorities and institutions has been seriously undermined, which again brought into question the entire investment worth about €300m,” says the source close to the investor.
DN unofficially learns that Qatari Diar’s representatives accidentally learned about the change in cadastre registration of property and immediately informed the Ministry of Finance about that, requesting urgent supervision over the work of the Tivat regional unit of the Real Estate Directorate.
Believing it was a mistake, the investor has tried to correct it through various ways and administrative procedures during the past six months.
A couple of days ago it filed a lawsuit against Montenegro and previous owners before the Basic Court in Kotor for unlawful seizure of legally acquired property.
