The Chinese CRBC is at the top of the black list of tax debtors in Montenegro

 

Its debt, according to the Black List of the 200 largest debtors of the Tax Administration, was around 11.2 million euros at the end of last year.

 

Despite this, they are also interested in continuing the construction of this highway.

 

The CRBC and the Tax Administration did not respond to Radio Free Europe's inquiry about the tax debt.

 

This company had special tax and customs benefits for the construction of the highway, whose 41 kilometers cost about one billion.

 

According to the Ministry of Finance, about 836 million euros were paid from the state treasury to the Chinese company and contractors, according to the non-governmental organization Action for Social Justice.

 

"If you brought in a foreign partner to build the biggest infrastructure project in Montenegro, and paid him so much money from the state treasury, then it is unacceptable that he has a single euro of debt to the state," ASP director Ines Mrdović told RSE.

 

Mrdović notes that the state has mechanisms to collect tax debts.

 

"It is not a company that has nothing here. On the contrary, it has certain assets and financial resources".

 

CRBC also wants other shares

CRBC spent seven years building the first section, 41 kilometers long, which connects the outskirts of Podgorica with Kolašin in the north of Montenegro, and the completion of the works was postponed five times.

 

The section was finally opened to traffic on July 13, 2022, on National Day.

This section is only a quarter of the planned road, which is about 170 km long and should connect Bar in the south and Boljare, on the border with Serbia.

 

CRBC is interested in building other stocks as well. Last year, she presented to the Montenegrin Government that they had prepared "detailed studies, a commercial study, framework conditions" for the continuation of the project.

 

They propose that the shares be realized through a private-public partnership model.

 

And in the meantime, on January 31, the state-owned Monteput announced a tender worth around five million euros for the development of a conceptual solution for the second section, from Andrijevica, through Beran to the border with Serbia.

 

Mrdović believes that the construction of the first section is not recommended by CRBC for continued cooperation.

 

"This was shown by a whole series of problems that happened during the construction... I think the Government should turn to companies that have a better reputation in connection with the realization of large infrastructure projects".

 

In addition to the three-year delay, CRBC has been accused of causing damage to the environment.

 

The company was punished by a court judgment for destroying fish and other living things in the Tara River during the construction of the highway. The verdict was overturned, and a new trial is underway.

 

 

Tax exempt, CRBC in the red

And during the construction of the first section, the Chinese company was subject to special rules that included tax and customs exemptions.

 

Mrdović points out that, according to their data, CRBC and its subcontractors have saved at least 250 million euros in the name of tax and customs benefits.

 

The Tax Administration did not tell RSE what the total tax-exempt amount was for the Chinese company.

 

Despite these benefits, CRBC ended the year 2022, according to financial reports, with a loss of almost EUR 40 million, while the report for 2023 is not yet available.

 

Montenegro built the first section with a loan of almost one billion dollars, taken from the Chinese Exim Bank.

 

In order to protect against the currency risk due to the fluctuating euro-dollar exchange rate, the authorities entered into a hedging arrangement with several Western banks, which reduced the cost of loans by over 27 million euros.

 

The Ministry of Finance told RSE that the Chinese bank has been paid six loan installments in the total amount of about 290 million dollars.

 

Montenegro should repay the loan for the first part by January 2035.

CRBC is also present in other Balkan countries CRBC also has projects in other countries of the region. One of them, with the Government of Serbia, is worth 3.2 billion euros.

 

CRBC also built the Pelješki Bridge, which connects the southernmost part of Croatia with the rest of the country. It was opened in July 2022, the same month when the first section of the Montenegrin highway was put into traffic.

 

According to the Digital Forensic Center, the value of Chinese projects in five Western Balkan countries that are not members of the European Union is over 13 billion euros.

 

The Chinese company is not the only foreign debtor

CRBC is not the only foreign company that is among the largest tax debtors in Montenegro. There are two other sides in the top five.

 

The biggest debt, with around 11.5 million euros, belongs to a company based in Hong Kong - Spic Ronghe International Limited, which participated in the construction of a wind power plant on the Montenegrin coast "Možura".

 

Then follows the Chinese company with about 11.2 million, and 6.5 million is owed by the Italian-based company Blacke-Durr Energy Solutions.

 

This company is engaged in the construction of electrical and telecommunication lines.

 

The total tax debt of the 200 largest tax debtors is 170 million euros.