Tivat will soon receive the Olive Center for Mediterranean Culture and Beekeeping, which will be built on municipal land in the Grabovac area of Krtoli.
The local parliament, at the initiative of Mayor Željko Komnenović‘s administration, adopted a decision before the New Year to build a local facility of general interest – the Olive Center for Mediterranean Culture and Beekeeping in KO Đuraševići, with accompanying infrastructure. The idea for the construction of this multifunctional facility came from the Secretariat for Economy led by Vedran Božinović.
The center will have a large nursery and space for beehives in the open area, while the building itself, with a minimal area of several hundred square meters, will include a laboratory sector with accompanying technical rooms, a tasting room for product sampling, a processing area for olives and Mediterranean crops with production process facilities, a multimedia room for education and presentations, and more. The future center will be built on a plot of land measuring 22,019 square meters owned by the municipality.
It is planned to plant olive trees of different varieties and other Mediterranean crops on the free areas around the facility, in addition to the nursery. The new center’s apiary is expected to have at least 100 beehives. The accompanying documentation states that the construction of the facility aims to develop rural areas, eco and agritourism, and that the Center’s construction will contribute to the “preservation of the tradition and cultural identity of the Tivat area,” sustainable development of the local community, and the establishment of a partnership between the municipality and local agricultural producers, olive growers, and beekeepers.
Positive effects on the development of tourism in Tivat are also expected through increased presence of traditional and high-quality local food products in the offerings of local hospitality establishments. It is anticipated that the main source of funding for this idea will come from the EU and cross-border cooperation funds, which are focused on promoting rural and agrotourism, sustainable development, and ecology.
It is noted that new funds have become available to Montenegro from European funds. It is also reminded that, at the initiative of the Olive Society Boka, Tivat was the first in Montenegro to be declared the City of Olives and a signatory to the Founding Statute of the Network of Mediterranean Olive Cities signed in November 2011.
