Karić: I call on the fellow citizen to sue those responsible, and the City will provide legal assistance

(Patria) - Sarajevo Mayor Benjamina Karić addressed the public on social media after a facade collapsed from a building in the city center today, injuring an elderly woman who was taken for medical assistance.

"We have all witnessed today's collapse of part of a facade in the city center, resulting in injury to our fellow citizen. I am now asking a very clear question: where have the building managers been all these years? Where have the owners of private buildings been all these years? Both are obliged and responsible for maintaining facades and other parts of buildings to prevent such situations from occurring.

The City of Sarajevo has the least responsibility for facade reconstruction, but we have completed a number of projects because we are aware of the need for reconstruction, not only for aesthetic but also for safety reasons. And despite this, we very often receive inquiries about why we spend public money on facades.

Therefore, I call on all levels of government to join us, to allocate funds for this purpose, and to help us reconstruct as many buildings as possible. We also call on the competent authorities and other entities in the field of issuing permits for construction work to act promptly on all requests and issue the necessary approvals for reconstruction. The City of Sarajevo has completed the reconstruction project of the JAT skyscraper, with works estimated at over one million KM.

We wish our fellow citizen a speedy recovery and urge her to sue those responsible through the competent authorities, and the City will provide all necessary legal assistance," Karić stated.