Montenegro has started another phase of rehabilitation at the Ulcinj Saltworks, investing in protective infrastructure while preparing a potential EU-funded programme worth more than €15 million that could eventually support the return of commercial salt production.
Works have begun on about 8 km of protective embankments, under a contract worth around €260,000 including VAT awarded to Cetinje-based SBCC.
The contractor has 45 days to complete the works.
The project follows an earlier rehabilitation of about 6.6 km of embankments and forms part of a broader effort to stabilise water management at the site.
The investment has both environmental and commercial significance.
Salt production at Ulcinj stopped after the last harvest in 2013, leaving one of Montenegro’s largest former industrial sites without its traditional economic activity.
Restoring embankments and water-management infrastructure is essential if production is ever to restart.
The Saltworks also has major biodiversity value, particularly for migratory birds, meaning future development must combine industrial use with environmental protection.
That dual role has complicated the site’s recovery but could also strengthen its access to European environmental and regional-development funding.
Montenegro and the Municipality of Ulcinj have established a new management company in which the state holds 60% and the municipality 40%.
That gives the site a clearer institutional structure after years of uncertainty over ownership, management and investment responsibilities.
Authorities and environmental organisations are now preparing an IPA funding proposal potentially exceeding €15 million for further rehabilitation.
If approved, the money could finance additional water-control systems, infrastructure, habitat protection and works required for the possible restart of salt production.
The funding is not yet secured.
But the scale of the proposal shows that the government is moving beyond emergency maintenance toward a larger redevelopment programme.
The economic case goes beyond salt.
A functioning Saltworks could support tourism, environmental research and local employment while restoring production of a commodity historically associated with Ulcinj.
Salt production could also create opportunities for premium food products and tourism-linked branding rather than competing only as a low-margin bulk commodity.
The challenge will be finding a commercially viable production model compatible with environmental requirements.
Traditional salt production depends on carefully controlled movement of seawater through evaporation basins.
The same hydrological system also supports the habitats that give the Saltworks its ecological importance.
Rehabilitation therefore cannot treat conservation and commercial use as separate projects.
That may ultimately work in the site’s favour.
European funding increasingly supports projects combining biodiversity protection, climate resilience and local economic development.
Ulcinj could present the Saltworks as precisely that type of investment.
The immediate €260,000 embankment contract is small compared with the proposed EU programme.
Its importance lies in rebuilding the basic physical system after years of deterioration.
Without functioning embankments and controlled water levels, neither bird habitats nor industrial salt production can be managed reliably.
The larger test comes next.
Montenegro needs to turn the proposed €15 million-plus programme into an approved financing package and define a realistic commercial model for the site.
If that happens, the Saltworks could shift from a long-running conservation and ownership problem into a mixed environmental and industrial asset.
The rehabilitation now under way is the first requirement.
Whether salt returns to Ulcinj will depend on what follows it.
