- The proposed legal solution introduces the possibility of establishing regional water supply and wastewater management systems.
The Union of Municipalities of Montenegro has launched, within its membership, a consultation process on the Draft Law on Water Services, one of the most important legal acts in the field of utility services, which envisages comprehensive changes in the way the water supply system is organized.
The proposed legal solution introduces the possibility of establishing larger regional water supply and wastewater management systems, with the aim of ensuring more stable and efficient operations, greater investment in infrastructure, and a more uniform quality of services in all parts of Montenegro. In addition, the obligations related to planning the development of water services, investments in the water supply and sewerage network, and reducing water losses—one of the long-standing problems in this sector—are regulated more precisely. It also envisages a stronger role for regulatory institutions in controlling prices and service quality, as well as clearer models for infrastructure financing.
The Union of Municipalities emphasizes that the proposed legal solutions directly concern the competences of municipalities, their assets, public water utility companies, and local budgets, especially the adjustment of the methodology for determining water prices to the needs of municipalities. Precisely for this reason, municipalities have been invited to analyze the Draft Law in detail and to submit their comments and suggestions, so that in the further work it can be ensured that the new law will be applicable in practice and adapted to the real needs of local communities.
The aim of this process is to contribute to the quality of the legal solutions through dialogue and the involvement of local self-governments, in order to improve the water services sector, enable sustainable investments, and improve the quality of services for citizens in the long term, while preserving the important role of municipalities in managing this area.
The Union of Municipalities will, after the municipalities submit their positions, consolidate their views and actively represent them in the work of the relevant ministry’s working group during the further stages of drafting the Law on Water Services.
