Forto with Mayors on Shelter Maintenance: Not Related to Ukraine

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - At the initiative of the Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton, Edin Forto, a meeting was held today with mayors, or representatives of municipalities and local civil protection services, which discussed the condition of shelters in Sarajevo Canton.

The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Communal Economy, Infrastructure, Spatial Planning, Construction and Environmental Protection, Enver Hadžiahmetović, who is also the Commander of the CS Staff of KS, and the Director of the Cantonal Civil Protection Administration of KS, Dženan Brkanić. The meeting emphasized that shelter maintenance is a regular activity and is not directly related to the situation in Ukraine. 

As stated today, Sarajevo Canton has 225 shelters managed by civil protection, and the municipal accounts, which manage the shelters (excluding data from Novi Grad and Stari Grad), have approximately 2.5 million KM for their maintenance. As stated, some shelters are completely unsuitable, some lack electricity, and property relations need to be resolved for others... It was also stated that KS has about 750 shelters managed by municipal civil protection services, and there are also shelters under the jurisdiction of property managers.

Prime Minister Forto requested detailed information from the municipal representatives today on the condition of the shelters, based on which he and the relevant minister Enver Hadžiahmetović, or the KS Government, will react in case additional funds or other assistance are needed to make the shelters functional.

"Today, a conclusion was reached that municipalities will provide their statements in the coming days, so that the KS Government can allocate funds and intervene if necessary," stated Director Brkanić after the meeting.

As he said, the public was alarmed by the information related to the equipping and cleaning of shelters, but he stressed that this is a regular activity that falls under the jurisdiction of municipal civil protection services.

"All countries in the region and in Europe have activities related to shelters, they clean them and put them to their original use, so we are following this trend and have taken certain actions. However, I emphasize again, this is a regular activity that should be carried out regularly every year," concluded Director Brkanić.