Hundreds of residents, local authorities, and businessmen from Ulqin protested in this city in the south of Montenegro, saying that “Ulqin is not for sale.”
The protest on March 22 was organized due to dissatisfaction with the tender for leasing the beaches of Ulqin, which in recent years have been leased by local businessmen. However, this year, the best offer for leasing the beaches was considered to be that of the Arab company, Eagle Hills.
“The Big Beach is not a desert for someone to build a Dubai. The Big Beach is a natural wonder, a 20-kilometer untouched coastline with warm, healing sand. Our pride and heritage,” said Dijana Pellinković, president of the “Ada Bojana” association.
According to her, the residents of Ulqin are not against progress but are against megalomaniac projects that erase the local identity.
“Our community must be involved in decision-making. We are raising our voices against centralization,” said the representative of the lessees, Albert Kastrati.
He stated that the tender for leasing the beaches discriminated against local lessees and favored foreign investors.
The protest in Ulqin was held despite the fact that Montenegro’s Prime Minister, Milojko Spajić, announced on March 20 that Eagle Hills intends to withdraw and transfer the beaches to local lessees.
Dissatisfaction Started from the Tender
On March 11, the Arab company, Eagle Hills, submitted the best offer to lease nine out of the 19 beaches on the Big Beach of Ulqin for a four-year period.
This caused outrage among the current lessees of the beaches and local authorities, who declared that the beaches were being given to foreign investors “through dubious agreements.”
After this, as Prime Minister Spajić announced, the president of the Arab company, Mohamed Alabar, withdrew the offer.
“He personally told me that for all the beaches where the locals competed, he is ready to withdraw or sublet them, as it is legally possible,” said Spajić.
The Government of Montenegro announced that, according to Spajić’s initiative, the investor decided to transfer the beaches they won through the tender, which had previously been leased by local entrepreneurs, to them at the price they had offered in the tender.
Eagle Hills, which gave the highest offer for the beaches, is a construction company from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. This company is known for regional projects such as “Belgrade Waterfront.”
The company registered its representative office in Montenegro after the initial deadline for submitting offers in the tender for leasing the beaches of Ulqin.
The deadline for submitting offers for the tender, announced on February 19, was March 4, but it was extended by seven days.
Alabar registered his company on March 6 in Montenegro and applied for the tender. The state-owned company managing the beaches in Montenegro extended the deadline.
Investment Plans in Ulqin
Spajić informed the people of Ulqin that, in addition to withdrawing from the tender for leasing the beaches, the Abu Dhabi company is interested in investing in the Big Beach, which is nearly 13 kilometers long and still undeveloped.
He said that the company is interested in investing 30 billion euros in a mega-project in Ulqin, which would include the construction of a large airport, the most modern hospital in the Balkans, a marina, and the renovation of the old town of Ulqin.
Spajić visited Dubai last month, where, as announced on February 13, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Government of Montenegro and the Emirates, which envisions exchanging experiences for modernizing the administration and economic cooperation.
Plans for Investment in Ulqin
The plan for investments in the mega-project in Ulqin has not received approval from the opposition and some local leaders.
Mehmet Zenka, a deputy of the Democratic Union of Albanians, confirmed during a meeting that Spajić said the goal of the Arab investors is to lease the entire Big Beach for 99 years.
He emphasized that this is unacceptable because, although they are not against investments, “Ulqin is not for sale.”
According to him, a lease for a 99-year period means that someone else will decide for the Big Beach, not the local community. He added that there are other locations for investments, but not 20 million square meters of the Big Beach and its surroundings.
Spajić, as Zenka said, only showed a conceptual plan of the investors through a photograph, which was not sufficient for a serious evaluation.
A day before the protest, a meeting of the Ulqin Assembly was held, where new projects for the city were approved in principle.
Among other things, it was approved that all investments must comply with the principles of sustainable development, respecting the planning and strategic documents of the municipality and the state, as well as considering economic, ecological, and social sustainability.
Abazović Calls for the Special Prosecutor to React
Former Prime Minister Dritan Abazović, who is from Ulqin, has called on the Special Prosecutor’s Office of Montenegro to investigate the lease of the Big Beach, claiming it is a corrupt act.
He said that Prime Minister Spajić “has promised state and municipal property without following the appropriate procedures.”
“Spajić presented a project that is not provided for in Montenegro’s Spatial Plan and was presented as a representative of the company that won the lease. The tender procedure was questionable, and the rules for the bank guarantee were changed at the last minute,” Abazović said to the newspaper “Vijesti.”
Montenegro has not had a Spatial Plan since 2020.
He added that, according to the information he has, Mohamed Alabar is dissatisfied, noting that by withdrawing from the lease, he would lose a 100,000-euro guarantee.
“They put him in a difficult position. He is very angry and willing to lose money to protect his reputation,” Abazović said.
Suspicion of Irregularities in the Tender for Leasing the Beaches
Local entrepreneurs had expressed concerns about irregularities in the tender from the beginning, stating that they are not against investors.
“Through the tender, the deadline for which was extended, in which Eagle Hills Montenegro participated, there was an unprecedented attack, organized and synchronized with the institutions of the system,” said Genci Nimanbegu, the mayor of the Municipality of Ulqin, on March 18.
The Government of Montenegro stated that the tender was conducted legally and that any further actions by the bidders, including the possibility of withdrawal, is a decision that belongs to them.
The people of Ulqin have started a petition, which was also signed during the protest, calling for, among other things, the cancellation of the tender for leasing.
The Big Beach, 13 kilometers long with an average width of 60 meters, is located five kilometers from Ulqin, the southernmost city on the Montenegrin coast, which borders Albania.
