High Stakes in Montenegrin Government Pledge to Review Investment Deals

Addressing MPs last week before they endorsed his cabinet, Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic promised a "review" of all strategic investment contracts signed between the state and private investors and that have proved harmful to the environment or the state.

Kazanegra, one of the initiators of a petition launched in May for Sveti Stefan to be renationalized in full, said he had one request of Krivokapic's newly-elected government.

"We are asking from the government to return Sveti Stefan to the state," he told BIRN. "They should prohibit the sale of shares of state companies and regulate the sale of shares between private entities. If they [private investors] want to sell the shares, they must be offered to the state first."

In 2007, the Montenegrin government led by the Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, granted a 30-year lease on the resort to Singapore-based tourism company Aman Resorts, hailing it as the first public-private partnership in the country's tourism sector.

Greek-based Restis Group took over Aman Resorts in 2009, with the company under fire in Montenegro for failing to meet a series of deadlines to open the resort. Aman management continued to operate the luxury resort, which boasts 58 guest rooms, cottages and suites, including eight suites that are part of Villa Milocer, built in 1934 as the summer residence of Queen Marija Karadjordjevic. In 2015, the DPS-led government extended the lease to 2049 and cut the rental price by 30 percent.

Kazanegra launched his petition in May when the state company that ultimately owns the resort sold 1.1 million shares for 2.2 million euros to unknown buyers. The Montenegrin state currently holds 58.6 percent of shares in the resort, with the rest in the hands of banks and...

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