Gratz for NAP: Criminal acts committed in Centar Municipality will be prosecuted

(Patria) - In an interview with the Patria News Agency, the Democratic Front (DF) candidate for the mayor of Sarajevo's Centar Municipality, Dennis Gratz, spoke about his programmatic priorities and summarized the past term.

Gratz says the main problem is the inaction and inefficiency of the authorities, which is not an impression but a verifiable fact.

“A government that manages to realize only half of its budget cannot be assessed as diligent and efficient, not even by people who are well-intentioned towards it. Centar Municipality is the wealthiest municipality in the country, but this is not reflected in the work of the authorities, because out of 75 million annually, the authorities manage to realize only half or slightly more, which is then 30-35 million, approximately the amount of the budget of Teslić or Kakanj. If it continues to stagnate, in the foreseeable future, Novi Grad and Ilidža will overtake Centar, which will move to a lower rank, both in terms of budget size and development,” said Gratz.

The DF candidate says that Centar Municipality would look completely different if most of the 75 million budget were spent.

Gratz says it is “extremely problematic that many projects have not been implemented under the pretext of a lack of funds, while at the same time over a million marks have been spent on salaries of ‘external consultants,’ i.e., party and other cadres close to the mayor of Centar, Srđan Mandić.”

“We live in Sarajevo, in Centar Municipality, it is the 21st century, and the authorities are hiding work contracts, on which over a million marks of public money have been spent. This is terrible. This is an enormous abuse of public resources. There is clear criminal legal responsibility here,” says Gratz.

Controversial Tenders

The DF candidate adds that money was spent in a similar way when over 400,000 marks were allocated for the reconstruction of the Festina Lente Bridge, or when 70,000 marks were allocated to the firm of the head of the Our Party (Naša stranka) councilor club, Alen Girt.

“The case of Sarajevski ćilim is the same. When he first came, the current mayor said that this project, which amounted to 1.1 million marks, was pure crime. And then he took over the project himself and inflated its price to just under 2 million marks. He never gave an explanation as to where so much money was spent, and in response to requests to release the documentation, he defiantly replied that he would not give it,” says Gratz.

He points out that the mayor “even mocked the citizens' requests, saying that there was no paper to print those documents.”

“He can be arrogant while in power, but those documents will be published sooner or later, because every government that has done so has fallen. The crimes committed in previous mandates, as well as in this one, will be prosecuted. We have seen some mayors who thought they would rule forever, and they ended up behind bars. Anyone who steals deserves the same fate,” said Gratz.

Programmatic Priorities

Gratz says his plan is to implement capital projects, primarily a sports and recreation complex in Betanija, modeled after the Safet Zajko center in Novi Grad. Gratz also plans to build large underground garages (near the National Theatre, in the area of SCC-Miljacka, and in Merhemića trg), which would expand the existing parking space.

“The absolute priority is to ensure parking space for residents, the inhabitants of Centar. The current authorities have not been able to do this. I have broad enough political support to say now that, if elected, the Decision on the organization of parking space will be adopted,” says Gratz.

Gratz says that, in addition to the aforementioned, a strategic priority in Centar is the greening and protection of parks and other green areas.

“Due to unplanned and often illegal construction, the city center resembles a concrete desert. We can fix this by mass planting of mature trees and laying new lawns. This is not unfeasible, but something that is common in the West. Centar has enough resources to become a greener, fresher, and healthier municipality,” says Gratz.

Gratz says that another strategic priority during his term will be the renovation of facades.

“The facades in Centar are currently so dilapidated that they leave a terrible impression on us and on visitors from abroad. Centar Municipality currently allocates only 200,000. If we were to spend 2 million each year, after just four years, the face of the city's urban core would change. We will have to solve this, because as time goes by, the facades will get worse, and with them, the face of our city. There is money, only work and efficiency are needed,” he said.