Butković: We Requested Documentation on the Concession Award for Zlatni Rat

Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković stated on Thursday that his ministry has already requested all documentation from the Split-Dalmatia County to determine the validity and legality of the procedure and decision regarding the concession for the economic use of Zlatni Rat beach in Bol on Brač.

>>>The concession for ‘Zlatni Rat’ was awarded to a Zagreb company, locals announced a beach blockade

After Prime Minister Andrej Plenković ordered on Wednesday the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure to urgently implement administrative oversight over the concession award for Zlatni Rat, which the County Assembly awarded to the Zagreb company Sport B d.o.o. for the next 15 years, Butković told reporters in front of the Banski Dvori that the ministry would certainly do this even if the Prime Minister had not ordered it.

– An appeal process will certainly take place. The ministry requested all documentation from the county yesterday to determine the validity and legality of the procedure and decision regarding the concession award, so when other people in the ministry look at it, we will see how things stand. This will be very quick, already next week, he said.

The decision to award the concession to a company without revenue has provoked strong reactions from the locals and the opposition in the County Assembly, with residents protesting in front of the building where the County Assembly session was held announcing protests and a beach blockade, and the mayor of Bol, Tihomir Marinković, filing a complaint to the Administrative Court.

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Butković did not want to express his personal opinion on the case to reporters but noted that the concession award procedure “must have some legality.”

– I believe that the county, or the county Department of Maritime Affairs, conducted the procedure legally. If not, it will have to be annulled. I do not have enough information to say something specific, he added.

– The result could be that the decision is confirmed, the tender could be annulled, or the decision on the concession award could be annulled and returned for reprocessing, he explained.

In response to the question of whether the ministry will conduct a broader review of concession awards along the Adriatic, he stated that the ministry is already doing that, as wherever concessions are awarded, in most cases, appeal processes are conducted with them. These are administrative procedures, and if the party is not satisfied with the ministry’s decision, then they go to the Administrative Court, Butković said.