Ibrahim Hadžibajrić: My work is evidenced by deeds

The independent candidate for the mayor of Stari Grad municipality is Ibrahim Hadžibajrić. We talked with him about current projects, but also about the vision for the development of this municipality.

Patria: Local elections will be held next month. The official campaign starts today, but it started much earlier, as you yourself have felt. Why do you think you have become a target for individuals and why do they bother you?

Hadžibajrić: As you say, the campaign started much earlier... Citizens have had the opportunity to hear and read all sorts of things in recent days, even things that defy common sense. You cannot lie to people so brazenly because no one is blind or stupid. When you have been working and building this Municipality for years, it is enough to look around you and see what has been done, so it is pointless to talk about whether work was done or not. I often say that deeds speak louder than words, and that's how it is. And those who deny it had the opportunity to work and implement projects themselves because they were in such positions, but they lacked the vision for development then, and they only had visions of how to avoid their duties and responsibilities. Whether I bother someone or not, I wouldn't comment much. A campaign is built on one's own projects, ideas, and visions, not by commenting on and belittling the work of others or announcing what has long been planned. I do not engage in provocations; instead, I work and present completed projects.

Patria: It is important to point out that the Municipality of Stari Grad is currently implementing several projects worth around 10 million KM. The construction of an underground garage opposite the City Hall, infrastructure projects, and the construction of a sports hall in Logavina are planned. Which projects would you highlight further?

Hadžibajrić: You have listed the currently largest projects and investments, and I would also like to mention that in a few days we will announce a tender for the selection of contractors for the construction of a sports field in Faletići. This is a major project that we will finance ourselves, but within the next two years, given its value of around two million KM. We plan to build a modern sports stadium with accompanying facilities, and the first phase is a sports field with changing rooms. This year, we will also complete the project of introducing video surveillance in all our primary schools to improve the safety of students and teaching staff. We are just finishing the rehabilitation of the four largest landslides in Stari Grad, declared by the Institute for the Development of Sarajevo Canton, and we will be ready to face the upcoming rainfall, and the citizens of Hladivode, Pogledine, and in Sava Skarića and Podcarina streets will no longer fear soil movement. By the end of this month at the latest, we will move 11 internally displaced families into a newly built building in Baruthana. In fact, this is the third building we have constructed for internally displaced and socially vulnerable persons in Stari Grad, and we are now finally resolving the category of internally displaced persons. The sports hall and schoolyard at Primary School “Mula Mustafa Bašeskija” will be completed by the end of the year, and as you mentioned, there are numerous infrastructure projects: asphalting, retaining walls, construction of a new sewage network, etc.

Patria: How much time do you spend with citizens in the field, outside your office? You are often with people who tell you their problems. What are their most common problems, and how do you help them, both as a person and as a mayor?

Hadžibajrić: I am glad you asked that question. You know, I do the “mayoral” job, so to speak. And the mayor's job is not the implementation of development projects or some higher, external policy. My job is to solve the daily, everyday problems of my fellow citizens. I spend a lot of time in the field, and my associates, as well as the citizens themselves, can best confirm this. We visit every street, plan and consider when we will asphalt, build sewage systems, lay water pipes, patch potholes... I listen to what bothers people, what they need... You know, sometimes it is more important for people to build a retaining wall that will stop a landslide and prevent their house from collapsing than anything else.

It is equally important to build a sewage network for them that they have never had and connect them to the city network so that they finally have normal living conditions. Stari Grad is largely located in a hilly area, and as proud as we are of our neighborhoods and their traditions, we must do a lot for the infrastructure in them. It is important to provide our children with normal conditions for staying and learning in schools. All primary schools in Stari Grad needed new windows, roofs, sports halls, and even heating boilers so that our children would not freeze. The relevant ministry did not pay much attention to them, and in eight years they allocated about 540,000 KM, while the Municipality invested almost six million KM in school renovations during the same period. As for the problems that citizens bring to us, well, everyone knows that Wednesday is the day I receive citizens at the Municipality, and we try to solve the problem on the spot. Heads of relevant services are also present, so all cases are considered immediately or forwarded to the services for resolution. Sometimes it doesn't depend only on us, and unfortunately, no matter how much one wants to help, sometimes their hands are tied.

Patria: One of the first associations when the Stari Grad municipality is mentioned is tourists. But in most cases, they do not stay long in Sarajevo. What could you, as mayor, in cooperation with the mayors of other municipalities, do or offer to keep these tourists in Sarajevo?

Hadžibajrić: Stari Grad and tourism are inextricably linked because most tourists who visit Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sarajevo also come to Stari Grad. To the extent that the Municipality of Stari Grad has been able, and within our jurisdiction, we have done so in previous years, and I am primarily referring to improving infrastructure. After all, it is most important for both tourists and citizens to have quality infrastructure in the city, and by reconstructing Baščaršija Square and surrounding streets, we have provided them with that. Do not forget that the safety of tourists has also significantly improved when we closed Baščaršija to all vehicle traffic. We have installed info panels offering information in several languages about cultural and historical monuments, Virtual Guides through which texts about these monuments can be downloaded via smartphones, info-tables on Baščaršija streets, we have opened an Info-Press Center that is directly at the service of tourists, and we have also provided space in Sarači for the Tourist Board to operate. A few days ago, we also created an online cookbook of our traditional cuisine, which also functions through codes downloaded via smartphones. I want to say that we have invested a lot in attracting tourists to Stari Grad, and it is difficult to talk about joint projects at the local level because municipalities do not have jurisdiction over tourism, and therefore no revenue from it.

Hadžibajrić: What is your vision for the further development of the Stari Grad municipality, and what does it include? How do you see it, for example, in the next four years?

Hadžibajrić: Stari Grad is the most beautiful municipality in Sarajevo, and we will build it to be the most pleasant to live in. When the implementation of all the projects we have planned begins, namely two underground garages, the sports stadium I mentioned, the construction of a sports hall at Primary School “Edhem Mulabdić” and another one in Bistrik, the extension of the Stari Grad Health Center building, the reconstruction and insulation of the municipal building, the insulation of all primary school buildings... Stari Grad will be a large construction site, and we will make it a place of pleasant and good living. Do not forget that the first Hilton hotel in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be built in Stari Grad, at the location where the Feroelektra building used to be.

Therefore, if this trend of development and growth of Stari Grad continues, in four years we will have a strong local community with a stable budget, improved infrastructure, new facilities, and quality living conditions.