Imamović: In Sarajevo, someone always hinders new investments and projects

Bosnia and Herzegovina longs for new investments and multi-million projects, but whatever is started in this country, someone hinders, disputes, criticizes... That is not good. Investors lose time and money, and often give up their ideas – says Šemso Imamović, owner and director of the construction company "Butmir" from Sarajevo, in an interview for the Patria agency.

These days, he himself has been facing difficulties during the construction of a residential and commercial building in Čengić-Vila. An investment worth around nine million KM is being slowed down by a group of citizens, even though Imamović is building on his own plot and has the necessary documentation for the project.

A small group from neighboring buildings claims that the new Butmir building will destroy their green space and block the children's playground, and according to some, increase air pollution. Imamović rejects all these claims.

– That’s how it always is with us – says Imamović.

– This city must be built. Space must be created for people who come to live here. But, there is always someone who is not interested in that. Besides, my company employs about 200 workers, who need to receive salaries for their work every month, from which they feed their families. It is enough for something to go wrong on one large project, and for it to destabilize the entire company. Others are not interested in that. For the sake of their smaller interests, they are capable of jeopardizing the lives of hundreds of other people.

The halting of large projects in BiH is most often politically motivated. Although Imamović did not want to comment on this, insiders claim that his company is also collateral damage. A group of citizens, directed, wants to harm the mayor of the Novo Sarajevo Municipality, Nedžad Koldžo, and they are only using the Butmir construction site in Čengić-Vila as a pretext to attack the mayor. They accuse him, albeit without arguments, of allowing illegal construction.

Imamović says that Butmir has resolved its problems by changing some parts of the method and dynamics of carrying out work on the construction site. This increased their construction costs, but it was the fastest way to reach a solution. As for foreign investors, God help them, he says.