Investor Pledges to Guard Mamula Fort Heritage

The Swiss-Egyptian investor in the controversial plans to turn former prison camp into a hotel, has insisted it will preserve the camp's hertage.

Orascom company pledged that the 15 million euro project to convert the Mamula fort into a luxury resort will fully respect the history of the now largely-abandoned site.

In a rare public response after being accused of planning to "ruin every memory" and of planning to close the site to locals, the company said that the luxury hotel will contain "a unit that can reflect the history of the island during both World Wars.

"Orascom's vision is to renew the Mamula fort... while preserving its cultural heritage and promoting its historic character," Dragana Becirovic, a representative of the investor, Swiss-Egyptian Orascom, told BIRN.

The fort on Lastavica island, located at the entrance of the Bay of Kotor, near the coastal resort of Herceg Novi, was built by Austria-Hungary in the 19th century and used mainly as a prison during both World Wars.

Montenegro's parliament in December approved a contract to lease the site to Orascom for 49 years, which includes an obligation by Orascom to invest 15 million euros over the next few years. The government has said that 200 local people may get work.

The project has divided opinions in Montenegro, with some claiming it is an inappropriate adaptation of a site where people were starved or killed.

The plan has especially angered relatives of people who were imprisoned there while the island was occupied by Mussolini's Fascists.

But Becirovic pledged that the luxury hotel at Mamula will contain "one unit that can reflect the history of the island during both World Wars.

"Our plans go further - the hotel lobby will also serve as...

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