Municipality of Vrsar and IDS: Maistra owes 27 million kuna for land lease

The mayor of the municipality of Vrsar, Franko Štifanić, and the vice president of IDS, Damir Kajin, informed journalists today at a press conference in Vrsar that the company “Maistra” from Rovinj, as part of the “Adris group”, is using land owned by the municipality without paying compensation, and that the total amount claimed by the municipality through legal means has reached almost 27 million kuna.

According to the mayor, this concerns almost 30 hectares of land and parcels registered in the name of the municipality of Vrsar, which are being used by the company “Maistra”. The municipality attempted to resolve the issue of compensation for the use of the land, of which it is the owner, even with the former Vrsar company “Anita” before it was taken over by TDR. TDR took over Vrsar’s “Anita” in 2001, and “Maistra” was formed by merging “Anita” and Rovinj’s “Jadranturist”. “Maistra” and TDR are now part of the “Adris group”.

Mayor Štifanić reported that as early as 1997, they successfully resolved the payment of compensation with tourism companies in the municipality – “Plava Laguna” and “Riviera”, but with “Maistra” this issue has not been resolved to this day. “Maistra” does not want to pay any compensation, said Mayor Štifanić. The multi-year court proceedings in this regard have not yet been completed.

IDS MP Damir Kajin expressed dissatisfaction at the press conference because there is still no law on tourist land in Croatia. “There is no law, and I doubt there will be one by the end of the local elections” and the end of the tourist season, he stated. If the citizens of Istria do not want a thousand hectares of so-called tourist land in Istria to be given to tycoons, they will vote for the option that has already prevented privatized companies from being registered on that land, they will vote for IDS, said Kajin. While judges in Dubrovnik ended up in custody due to “transfers” of land, those who did the same in Istria or through the Rijeka Commercial Court are completely protected, and someone should bear the consequences in the political life of this country, Kajin assessed.

When asked to comment on the claims of the Vrsar municipality leaders, Plinio Cuccurin, a member of the Management Board of “Adris group” and a candidate of the Citizens’ Association “Ladonja” for the Istrian prefect in the local elections, told Hina that as a legalist he does not want to comment on ongoing court proceedings. “I am not surprised by such insinuations. It is all orchestrated,” Cuccurin said. (Hina)