Donor withdraws 3.5 million euros for the Trebević cable car, Komšić still claims it will be built!?

Donor withdraws donation of 3.5 million euros because 'Sarajevo did not fulfill its obligations', but Mayor Komšić simultaneously claims that the construction of the cable car will begin, reports the Patria News Agency.

The donor has announced the withdrawal of a donation for the renovation of the Sarajevo cable car in the amount of 3.5 million euros, which was intended to finance part of the work on launching the cable car that would lead from the city center to Trebević, reports Al Jazeera.

Therefore, the key question arises: will the facility, which was one of Sarajevo's landmarks before the war, really be renovated?

Sarajevo Mayor Ivo Komšić claims that the start of construction is not in question, despite the fact that the donation has been withdrawn. He states that the problematic property-legal relations, which have been hindering the project for years, have been resolved.

The entire Trebević cable car renovation project is worth six million euros, and donor Edmond Offermann decided to donate 3.5 million euros. Now, with his withdrawal of the donation, the renovation of the cable car becomes questionable as it represents 60 percent of the necessary funds.

"We are proceeding with the project - with or without Mr. Offermann's donation" - Komšić replied to an Al Jazeera journalist, confirming that he will send a new letter to the donor asking him not to withdraw from the project.

However, when asked with what money he intends to realize the announced cable car project, Komšić replied: "That's none of your business."

The memorandum, signed in October 2014 between Offermann and the City Administration, stipulated that the donation would only be available until the end of December 2015.

After the deadline expired, the donor decided to withdraw. He cited as the reason "the fact that the City of Sarajevo did not fulfill its assumed obligations".

Armin Rustambegović, the donor's representative, officially informed the mayor of this information today. He confirmed to Al Jazeera that Offermann is "definitely withdrawing".

City authorities had several conditions for the realization of the donation, such as resolving property-legal relations related to the ownership of the valley and mountain stations of the cable car, securing the remaining amount of money necessary for the renovation of the cable car, and other actions.

The donor claims that the City Administration has not fulfilled any of its assumed obligations, and therefore the private monetary donation has been withdrawn.

Transfer of Ownership

However, before the donor's decision was announced, Mayor Komšić confirmed that the property-legal relations between the company GRAS and the City of Sarajevo had been resolved, which means the project for the renovation of the cable car in Sarajevo can begin.

The mayor invited the media to announce that 1.75 million euros will be allocated for the Trebević cable car. However, after concluding the handover of the project from the canton to the city and resolving property-legal relations with the city transport company, he learned that the donation from the American Offerman had been withdrawn.

Komšić signed an agreement with GRAS representatives, transferring the building rights for the cable car from that public utility company to the City of Sarajevo.

"From today, we formally acquire the right to build the Trebević cable car, after great efforts and procedures we have gone through. We have been working on this for months and have finally completed the notary contract. Regardless of how long this has taken, we expected this to happen, that we would find common ground, and we never lost hope that we would sign this contract one day," said Komšić.

When asked by an Al Jazeera journalist whether he would build the cable car if there were no donation, Komšić answered affirmatively. At that moment, he was unaware of the donor's withdrawal decision, which was communicated to him an hour later.

Failure of the donation was already foreshadowed

The donated cabins, located at the EUFOR camp in Butmir, where they were brought by the Swiss army, have been deteriorating for five years.

A hint of the project's failure came a few months ago when the donor warned about unresolved property-legal relations hindering the donation, as well as the question of who would manage the cable car. If the project was not launched by the end of the year, the donor would withdraw his funds.