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Alabbar has also participated in regional projects in Croatia, Albania, and in "Belgrade on Water" in Serbia.
The President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, has returned to the Parliament for reconsideration one of the two agreements that the Government of Montenegro had signed with the United Arab Emirates – the one that paved the way for the lease of the Grand Beach in Ulcinj.
According to that agreement, Montenegro would lease the Grand Beach for 99 years to the Emmar company of Arab businessman Mohamed Alabbar, which would build a mega-tourist complex in Ulcinj.
Alabbar has also participated in regional projects in Croatia, Albania, and in "Belgrade on Water" in Serbia.
However, Milatović, who decreed the Law on the Ratification of the Agreement on Economic Cooperation, did not do the same for the Law on the Ratification of the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Tourism and Real Estate Development. He returned the latter to the deputies for a new vote.
Velika Plaza, a pristine 13-kilometer stretch of sand on Montenegro's Adriatic coast, has long been hailed as a national treasure. Alabbar's firms are already well-known in the Balkans for ambitious developments such as the Belgrade Waterfront project in Serbia.
But critics argue that these fantastic schemes come with hidden costs: unclear agreements, legal exemptions for investors, and disregard for community voices.
"This is an attempt to push through a multi-billion dollar deal without public debate, without transparency and in violation of legal procedures, which could have serious consequences for the public interest and natural resources of Montenegro," the protest group Big Beach or Big Lie said in a statement quoted by public broadcaster RTCG. The Velika Plaza project echoes previous UAE-led ventures in the region.
Eagle Hills previously launched the $3 billion Belgrade Waterfront development on the banks of the Sava River in the Serbian capital. The project got off to a dubious start when masked men demolished buildings in the Savamala district at night in 2016, sparking more than a year of protests under the banner "Don't drown Belgrade," with a yellow duck as its symbol.
Other major investments in the region include plans by UAE-based Emaar to develop the port of Durres in Albania. The project, with a reported value of 2 billion euros, was unveiled in 2021 when Prime Minister Edi Rama spoke of one of the “largest and most beautiful tourist ports in the Mediterranean”. However, the opposition Democratic Party has challenged the project; in recent developments, the DP’s lawsuit was rejected by the Constitutional Court in February.
In all three countries, a criticism raised against their governments' relations with UAE investors is that mega-deals are usually concluded behind closed doors, without competitive tenders and often include generous incentives for investors. /Pamphlet
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