Kozarac (can/cannot) be a municipality, Prijedor's budget is full, nothing is returned to them

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Kozarac meets all economic, administrative and economic conditions to be a separate municipality, and in this way, they emphasize, they would develop more easily and ensure the stay of young people. They have long lacked emergency services and a clinic. For twenty years, residents say, they have suffered the ignorant attitude of the City and demand that this way they be allowed to at least partially return the funds they contribute to the state budget.

In Kozarac, they claim that no capital project has been realized in Kozarac in the last twenty years and that they have built all local roads themselves, with the support of the diaspora. 

"We participate with 33 percent in the budget of the City of Prijedor, and we receive about 0.01 percent. That is the biggest problem, that we have to fight for the funds that belong to us," states Hamdija Joldić, a member of the Initiative Committee for the municipality of Kozarac.

Out of 20,000 inhabitants, only about ten are employed in administrative bodies - and in positions directly related to the local community. At the end of the year, the last bank will close, and they have long lacked emergency services or a clinic.

"For emergency services, we have to call Omarska, and we know what Omarska did to us and how many people from Kozarac went through that concentration camp," says Joldić. He adds that they also have problems with electricity - as soon as there is a little rain or snow, the electricity goes out.

They submitted the initiative to the City Administration of Prijedor two years ago, but two council sessions were interrupted so that this item would not be considered.

Kozarac lost its status as a municipality in the 1960s and was annexed to Prijedor along with Omarska.