At the first joint meeting of the Committee on Tourism, Agriculture, Ecology and Spatial Planning and Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget that was held today, a consultative hearing was held on the topic “Regulating the flow of the Bojana River”, in accordance with the Article 73 of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Montenegro. The hearing was held after several months of insisting of the MP Mr Genci Nimanbegu, the Vice President of the Parliament, to consider this crucial political, economic and cultural issue.
The meeting was attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs, Ministry of Interior and the Municipality of Ulcinj.
It was said that the navigability of the Bojana River has been a problem present over the decades, caused by a number of natural events, which is why the fairway has never been canalised in regular proportions in order for it to be preserved. It has been pointed out that besides the Bojana River, there was an enormous tourist potential in the Lake Skadar and Lake Šas and that in that context, the navigability of the Bojana River must be canalised no matter how expensive the project was. Close cooperation of the competent authorities has been insisted on in order to determine precisely the responsibilities, with the aim of using the potential of the Bojana River.
It has been partucularly emphasised that cross-border cooperation, as an instrument for the development of border areas, was an opportunity for the realisation of the goals of sustainable development, and the navigability of the Bojana River should therefore be canalised in cooperation with the Republic of Albania.
It was concluded that many issues have been raised and that, in addition to representatives of the state bodies that had been present on the meeting, the representatives of the scientific community should also be invited to the next meeting in order to support efforts to valorise the Bojana River economicaly and culturally at the most on the basis of science.
