About us :: UEP Montenegro

About us:

United Entertainment Partners Montenegro (UEP Montenegro) was founded in 2004. The company was formed after extensive investigation in to the potential that Montenegro as a country had to offer from a tourism and development perspective. UEP Montenegro since 2004 has acquired vast land tracks on the coastline of Montenegro and in the ski resort centers of Kolasin and Zabljak.

UEPs’ intention was to purchase as much land as quickly as possible in prime locations because of the rapidly increasing values of land within Montenegro. The second stage is to offer to major developers excellent land deals on a JV basis where the developer is getting the benefit of land prices at a much lower value than market because of UEP.

UEP is now responsible for most of the major developments within Montenegro whereas in the next 5 years we have secured inward investment in excess of 3.5 billion euros. The main focus for the company is to supply to the market on an individual or corporate basis an investment opportunity that is both profitable and sustainable for the long term.

Montenegro as a country is rough around the edges with major infrastructural investment requirements. Because it is at this stage this is the opportunity for investment in to the country. The government after 3 years of planning and debating has generated one of the most detailed coastline development plans ever created in Europe. The main strategy behind this plan is for sustainable development with a high quality of build in a 4 to 5 star range with low line development on the coastline up to a maximum of 7 stories and in certain zones only 3/4 water front.

The benefit for Montenegro from a development perspective is ironic. Montenegro had suffered the repercussions of the war in the former Yugoslavia in 1990s. With the ousting of Milosevic in 2000 this only set the seed for stability in the region. Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia defined their boundaries and with international approval agreed their borderlines.

Montenegro, although it was not directly involved in to the conflict found its tourism market destroyed and found the only market that was left for the coastline for tourism throughout 1990s was predominantly the Serb tourists. The country found itself in the position where the income from tourism in the 1990s was a mere 25% of the financial success it had in the 1980s.

From 2001 until the end of 2003 the only investment in Montenegro was that of Russian and Israeli land speculators making false promises to the Government on the development they never intent to build with the intention of land locking.

The year 2004 was the start of Montenegro’s economy taking a mild turn in a positive manner. Many international delegations, foreign investors, etc. visited Montenegro on the back of the World Tourism Council Report on the country listing Montenegro as the fastest growing economy in tourism on a percentage base in the world. This was easily achieved because Montenegro was starting from such a low base.

UEP over the last 3 years has built up a very strong working relationship with local and central government within Montenegro. There is a clear understanding in central government that UEPs’ intention is for development and not land speculation. To this end UEP has been successful in securing major investment deals with the government for strategic locations whereas UEP is responsible for creating a JV with developers with excellent track history and strong financial baking.

Since 2004 UEP has created many working relationships on projects of a national importance to the tourism sector of Montenegro. Since the referendum in May 2006 and the breaking away from the loose federation between Serbia and Montenegro followed by the general election in September 2006 with the democrats winning, the signals to private and corporate investors are simple. Montenegro is now on the fast track to success! The government have aggressively started in to a major infrastructural redevelopment program for the coastline and mountain regions with the building of new motorways now planned to start construction in early 2008 and the upgrading an expansion of the coastline road now in place along with water, sewage and electricity investment programs. The government has also upgraded capital airport Podgorica with runway improvements and ramp space expansions along with the new terminal facility. A new tunnel of 6 kilometers has now been completed from Podgorica airport to the coastline cutting down the average travelling time to the coast circa 40 minutes. UEP is in negotiation with the government for the upgrading of Tivat airport on the coastline and has a 200 million investment program being evaluated by international consultants for the redevelopment program. UEP also intends to launch UEP Air by the end of 2007 targeting destinations outside of the range of the Montenegrin airlines Fokker 100 primarily servicing Ireland, England and the Scandic regions with scheduled flight to Tivat at a rate of 155 euros off season and 255 euros in high season. The fleet in the first 24 months will consist of four A 320 aircraft. Montenegro is changing on a monthly basis.