The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Management (MAFWM) expects that construction works on the fishing port at Cape Đerane in Ulcinj will begin after the summer tourist season of 2025 and that construction will last for two years.
Fishing ports are also planned in Herceg Novi and at the location of Marina Bar, but this municipality and the company have not given the green light for the endeavor.
This was stated by officials from the ministry led by Vladimir Joković. They emphasized that the preparation of the project task for engaging experts to prepare the main project and tender documentation for construction works is currently underway, and they expect to announce this call by the end of the first quarter. They are doing this, as they stated, in order to start the tender process for construction works immediately after signing the loan agreement with the World Bank (WB).
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently approved the Environmental Impact Assessment Report for the fishing port, which is planned to be built on the eastern part of Cape Đerane in Ulcinj. This port will have mixed purposes, including space for fishing, tourist, and recreational boats, a hall for storing and packaging fish, and will create at least ten jobs. It is planned for the area between Pinješ Hill and Velika Plaža, at the mouth of the Port Milena canal. It will accommodate 79 boats with a maximum length of 20 meters, with a total area of 35,000 square meters and 67 parking spaces.
Montenegro signed a loan agreement with the WB in 2018 for the implementation of the MIDAS 2 project, which includes activities related to the potential construction of fishing ports (places of first fish landing) in Ulcinj, Bar, and Herceg Novi. The MIDAS 2 project (institutional development and strengthening of agriculture) is implemented by MAFWM.
The construction of fishing ports is one of the conditions for the country’s accession to the European Union under Chapter 13 – Fisheries, which was opened at the intergovernmental conference in Brussels on June 30, 2016.
The port of Ulcinj will cost 15 million euros
Since 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Management (MAFWM) has been working on securing funds for the construction of the fishing port, and they have submitted the project through the Ministry of Finance for the World Bank’s (WB) Partnership Framework for the period from 2024 to 2028. They emphasized that this is a complex construction project, awaiting national and WB procedures, and it is not realistic to expect the port to be built within two years, as the fishermen anticipate. They also highlighted that construction work will be limited during the summer tourist season to avoid disruption, as outlined in the project’s report.
“The estimated value for the project is 15 million euros. The finalization of this document is underway, and we are confident that the funds for the construction of the port will be part of this program framework. We expect construction work to commence after the end of the summer tourist season in 2025, with a planned duration of two years,” stated in their response.
MAFWM mentioned that through the MIDAS 2 project, they allocated 800,000 euros for the preparation and revision of the main project and tender documentation for construction works. Over the past two and a half years, they have been working on an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment study for Cape Đerane, requiring numerous technical studies, consultations with the municipality, fishermen, and locals.
They also stated that within the study approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a proposal for the conceptual design based on urban-technical conditions (UTU) was developed, based on the requirements received from the previous Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning, and Urbanism in 2021. They explained that ports are defined as complex engineering structures by the Law on Spatial Planning and Construction, and the construction permit for such objects is issued by the competent spatial planning authority.
“The documentation includes, among other things, the revised conceptual and main projects, as well as approval for the environmental protection study. The finalization of the project task for the development of the main project is underway, and we expect the tender for the selection of the consultant to be announced by the end of this quarter. Since this is an international tender, the contract with the selected consultant can be signed by mid-year,” stated MAFWM.
They anticipate that this task will take six months. However, with the revision of the conceptual and main projects, the revised main project could be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2025, after which they will proceed with obtaining the construction permit.
They want a port in the Bay of Kotor
In addition to Ulcinj, the construction of a port at several locations in Herceg Novi has been considered, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Management (MAFWM). They state that through the MIDAS 2 project, funds were allocated for research in the Zelenika settlement and for the preparation of a protection study, but the local government there did not support the continuation of the project. They added that the funds were redirected afterward, but it will be necessary to find a location for a fishing port in the Bay of Kotor in the future.
They emphasized that they also considered “Gat 9” within the scope of the Marina Bar because fishermen already dock large vessels there. With two million euros from the World Bank (WB), they would reconstruct the dock and adapt it for fishing purposes. This would include the construction of land infrastructure to facilitate the further distribution of catches for fishermen. However, they encountered a lack of understanding there as well because Marina Bar is mostly state-owned but lacks the two-thirds majority necessary to make decisions regarding construction.
MAFWM added that MIDAS 2 is significant for the development of fisheries, as it has strengthened land infrastructure and modernized the fleet. They highlighted that by the end of 2023, they completed the implementation of the first grant call for the procurement of fishing vessels with accompanying equipment, acquiring 12 new modern boats.
“The investment value was 1.6 million euros, with support through MIDAS 2 totaling 1.3 million euros. The implementation of the second public call is underway, within which eight contracts have been signed for the procurement of modern vessels. The investment value is 1.7 million euros, with potential support of 1.2 million euros,” stated MAFWM.
Thanks to the funds from this project, they claim to have completed the development of a fisheries strategy with an Action Plan for implementation, transmission, and enforcement of EU legal provisions for the next five years. They mentioned conducting a study to improve the fisheries and aquaculture market, aiming to enhance and develop this sector. They also claim to be working on developing equipment for equipping the first landing and catch registration sites at ten locations along the coast.
