It is crazy to give the Airport of Montenegro (ACG) under concession, says regional air traffic expert, and Croatian aviation analyst Alen Scuric. He believes that Montenegro and its airports do not need a concessionaire and that the ACG can finance the necessary €150m of investment on its own to bring Montenegrin airports to the level of competition in Tirana, Dubrovnik and Pristina, writes Pobjeda.
“Giving strategic facilities under concession is crazy. Montenegro depends on tourism, its GDP is filled with some 25% from tourism. Montenegro has a disastrous road infrastructure, the railways are in an even worse condition, and there are almost no ships. Montenegro is very far from European destinations. Therefore, passengers have to come to Montenegro by plane”, Scuric explains in an interview for Pobjeda.
He adds that in this context, airports are the most important strategic resource of the state and “infrastructure that must be controlled”. He also recalls comparative experiences from the region and Europe and assesses that airport concessionaires in those countries performed extremely poorly. Scuric states that if a concessionaire must be taken, then the best one should be chosen.
