Residents of Brezna Block Road and Declare: We Will Not Allow the Destruction of Our Village at Any Cost

The residents of the Piva village of Brezna, gathered in the Civic Initiative “Save Brezna,” today blocked the main Nikšić–Šćepan Polje road for half an hour at one minute to noon, to send a message to the Montenegrin government and the public that they will not allow the construction of a high-voltage 400kV transformer station and an international energy hub in the center of their village, which they say would mean “silent genocide” and the displacement of the local community.

Residents carried banners in English that read: “Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, will our Government destroy our village?”, “CGES and EBRD, do you see us now?!” and “Alcasar Energy, this is our land, we are the public interest of our country.”

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One of the protesters, Vesna Radojević, stated that they gathered to protest the intention of the state and the state-owned energy company CGES to build a 400kV transformer station and an international high-voltage energy hub in the center of Gornja Brezna, a populated area.

According to Radojević, this would mean the end of the village.

“Gornja Brezna is the only village in Montenegro where people, especially young families, are moving in, building tourist facilities, developing businesses, and investing in sustainable development – they are implementing what the Government of Montenegro has long proclaimed as a strategic goal. Instead of supporting them, this government is planning to destroy the village. This plan has existed for 15 years without anyone in the village being informed,” Radojević emphasized.

She added that, during their two-month fight to stop this project, they discovered that the state-owned company, the Montenegrin Electric Transmission System (CGES), stated in its project documentation for a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)—based on which €28 million was approved for the construction of the 400kV transformer station—that there were no houses or commercial buildings within a 2-kilometer radius of the planned location. Radojević said this is completely untrue, as there are over 100 houses in the area, some permanently and some seasonally occupied, and the nearest home is only about 100 meters from the planned site.

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She expressed hope that the Montenegrin state would finally recognize its citizens and respond to their request to relocate the energy hub to another location. If this does not happen, they are considering filing a complaint with the European Public Prosecutor's Office, due to the involvement of the EBRD.

After publicly revealing CGES's false statements in the documentation submitted to the EBRD, Radojević said they received “a rather unpleasant message from CGES,” in which they were labeled as “enemies of the state.”

“We are in communication with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and expect a response, first and foremost, so that this reputable financial institution can protect its integrity and international credibility. We have requested that the approved funds be frozen and the entire process restarted, with full respect for EBRD’s high standards regarding local communities. These standards demand early involvement of affected communities, their voices and concerns to be heard, and that no project be financed if it negatively impacts the environment or human settlements,” Radojević emphasized.

She also said they learned of the plans to build a high-voltage energy hub in their village when the private company Alcazar Energy sent surveyors onto their private property without any notice or legal grounds.

“They submitted an Environmental Impact Study to the Environmental Protection Agency, listing our plots—private property of Brezna residents—and falsely claimed they had made agreements and signed lease contracts with residents for the use of that land. This is a complete lie. No one in the village knew about this, and we had no idea our plots were included in their documentation,” she said.

Another discovery, Radojević noted, was that the Urban Technical Conditions (UTU) obtained by Alcazar Energy from the relevant Ministry were issued illegally, based on an outdated law—specifically, the controversial Article 218c, which allows for issuing conditions without proper procedures and only at the request of the landowner.

“This was not respected here. It’s an obvious, clear, and unequivocal violation of the law. We will address this through legal channels,” she said.

Mićo Blagojević, owner of one of the first ethno villages in Montenegro, located in Brezna, said they no longer trust CGES, which previously built a 400kV power line and transformer station in the village without informing residents—only when the machinery arrived did they learn about it.

“They destroyed the road, and for two years, it was impossible to access the village. Tourists couldn’t come, and we suffered enormous losses. We barely recovered, and we will not let it happen again on a larger scale. We will defend our land, even with our lives. We don’t care about fines; the machines will not pass over us,” said Blagojević.

Milorad Blečić, another resident, said he found Alcazar Energy surveyors on his land, took the sketches they were drawing, and warned them never to return. He announced a lawsuit and vowed to defend his property by all legal means. Blečić lives in Gornja Brezna for most of the year with his family, engaging in agriculture and eco-tourism.

The residents of Gornja Brezna have previously stated that such an energy project could never be approved in a populated area in any civilized country.

They have already addressed open letters to CGES, the President of Montenegro, the Speaker of Parliament, the Prime Minister, and ministers. Just two days ago, they addressed Minister of Spatial Planning Slaven Radunović, demanding that he honor the promise made by his ministry’s planners to extend the public consultation period for amendments to the PUP (Spatial Urban Plan) for Plužine. They stated that the process was non-transparent and insisted on being given time and opportunity for active involvement.

“We fear for our safety because we’ve stirred a hornet’s nest. They are trying to intimidate and stop us. We have informed the relevant Montenegrin institutions and international actors about our concerns,” they said.