Balić: Misleading the public under the guise of a 'systemic solution' for parking in Novo Sarajevo

(Patria) - Councilman in the Municipal Council Novo Sarajevo Kerim Balić (SDA) denied the announcements of his colleague Armin Handžar (SDP BiH) that this Sarajevo municipality will get 6,536 new parking spaces.

Balić says this is a classic example of misleading the public and creating the illusion that something concrete is being done, even though the problem is not being solved in any way.

To be fair, Balić states, the parking problem for residents in Novo Sarajevo is not new, it is quite chronic.

He reminds that the SDA Club in the Municipal Council Novo Sarajevo has repeatedly initiated that this problem must be solved systematically.

"Every time we received the same answer from the Municipality: 'The Faculty of Transport and Communications is preparing a study that will offer solutions.' That was a completely acceptable and logical answer, which gave us, as well as the citizens of Novo Sarajevo, hope that it was a document that would foresee new parking solutions, underground garages, additional capacities, and a long-term management plan for them.

However, that did not happen. Moreover, after a year of waiting, we received a study that offers no new solutions, but exclusively states the existing situation, meaning a study that we paid for, and then waited a year for, literally just counts the existing parking spaces.

To be truthful, the Faculty of Transport and Communications professionally did what they were commissioned to do. The problem, therefore, is not with them, but with the mayor Benjamina Karić and her unprofessional team, who did not set the project task to offer new solutions for stationary traffic, but literally to count the existing parking spaces.

Instead of hiding their shame, the wasteful expenditure of funds, but what is even worse, the loss of a year's time, they decided to continue with their deception of citizens and release news to the media that should create the illusion that a great step forward has been made that will make citizens' daily lives easier.

In reality, citizens have not received a single new parking space, not a single new garage, nor has any problem been defined, and in that regard, no solution has been offered for their citizens. So, citizens have only received the number of already existing parking spaces," states Balić.

This way of communication, he adds, creates a false sense of progress and deliberately misleads citizens, because charging for existing parking spaces without creating new capacities is not a solution to the problem, but rather shifting it onto the citizens.

"Novo Sarajevo does not need statistical studies that confirm what we all already know. Novo Sarajevo needs a political vision and political will, and then a clear strategy and concrete projects.

As long as problems are only 'stated' and not solved, such news remains nothing more than well-packaged PR, as we have unfortunately become accustomed to from the mayor, but also from the 'Trojka' in general," adds Balić.