Tivat – The planned investments for Montenegro will transform Boka, and will enable it for competing with the European harbors for the most payroll and the most fast growing part of the global tourism – yacht tourism – thinks the owner and the president of the company PM securities, Piter Mank.
– We are doing this project for the generations to come. It will turn Boka into a region which is capable to measure its strength with Majorca, French Riviera, and Monte Carlo – said Mank in the interview for “Vijesti” in the lane, just before the taking off from Tivat.
The signing of the contract for the purchase of the Arsenal is just a “first step”, says the Canadian businessman. There are many things left to be done, he adds, starting with the architectonic issues, protection of environment, infrastructure, finances etc…
– This is a very big project; this is not just a building of a hotel or a restaurant – says with a smile, an energetic 78 year old Canadian businessman, the founder and the chairman of the Berik gold company, which recently became the greatest gold producer in the world.
According to his idea, Arsenal will become a luxurious marina, and the whole region will, if the project starts working, experience a transformation. Mank states as an example Sardinia, which 30 years ago was a “starving country”, and today it has restaurants, shops, boutiques, hotels, villas, discothèques… and it is being developed thanks to the people who love to stay there and spend their money.
– The yacht owners are a category which spends the most, and they do not need a big infrastructure. And if you bring a ship that cuisse with 5.000 people, you need a suitable system for water supply, waste waters … and what do those people leave behind? What they do is buy a hat on which it is written “Montenegro”. And then what’s the use of that? – clarifies Mank the advantages of the elite tourism which he plans to develop in Boka compared to the mass one “which only brings people”.
– There is no one in the local community who want have profit if the projects works, – Mank is convinced.
– Rich people can go anywhere, to Rio de Janeiro, Kan, Palma de Majorca, Sardinia, Monte Carlo, Portofino. And if we get them here, and we can do that, because other shores are filled with buildings and yachts, the whole region will benefit – says Mank.
During the season, he expects, the yacht owners will spend their time and spend their money, and their yachts will be supplied with the necessary fuel and food in the harbor.
During the winter and the fall, the yachts and the crew would, says Mank, be placed in the marina, and the people would be employed in their maintenance, reparation, painting or remodeling of their interiors.
– The key is that the project starts functioning. If we do not achieve our goal, I will lose money, but Montenegro will lose a huge opportunity, so we are together in this – says Mank.
Commenting the objections of the public because of the low price which he will give for the property of the Arsenal; Mank emphasized the difference that exists between that type of investment and the purchase of the developed firm.
– We are not buying Montenegro Telecom, a monopolist in the smoking industry or aluminum factory. In those cases, the same day when you give out the check you have incomes. But in this case, the day when I give out the check, I should set myself in giving large investments, and I do not know whether I will have income – said Mank.
As he had said, he still does not know who will be his partners in the realization of the marina project, he just mentioned EBRD.
The chairman of the ERBD and the chairman of the World Bank, according to Mank’s words were the ones who showed him the possibility of investment in Montenegro, as a country which has the future in development of tourism.
Mank considers the leaving Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic and his Government credible for the political stability of Montenegro, and he says that he is not concerned that in the future certain possible instabilities could imperil his project in Tivat.
– It does not bother me at all. I wouldn’t be here if I thought that that could be a problem. I think that the whole region is beginning to stabilize – said Mank.
D. Crevnica
