Old Town Municipality Takes All Measures in Coronavirus Prevention

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Following the recommendations of the FBiH Government made at yesterday's thematic session on the introduction of special protective measures to prevent harmful consequences for the health of workers, the Mayor, Mr. Ibrahim Hadžibajrić, has made a decision to introduce split working hours in the Old Town Municipality. Starting tomorrow, the employees of the Municipality will work in shifts from 07:30 to 11:30 and from 12:00 to 16:00, ensuring that fewer employees are present in the premises at the same time.

We remind you that the FBiH Government yesterday recommended that employers employing a larger number of workers reorganize their working hours, if the work process allows, and distribute the work performed in one shift into two shifts, in order to avoid the concentration of a larger number of workers in one place.

In the Old Town Municipality, the temporary measure limiting the movement of citizens/clients within the municipal building remains in force, and clients are still received only in the Counter Hall.

Also, in accordance with the recommendation to cancel meetings involving a larger number of participants, the 37th regular session of the Old Town Sarajevo Municipal Council, planned for March 26, 2020, will not be held. For the same reason, other planned events are also canceled.

The Municipal Civil Protection Staff of the Old Town Municipality, at an extraordinary session held on Sunday, March 15, considered the announced events organized by the Old Town Municipality in the coming period. It was concluded that, in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus infection, the holding of events should be reduced to the minimum possible, and only necessary and urgent programs should be held.

In this regard, the Municipal Staff and the commander of the staff, Mayor Mr. Ibrahim Hadžibajrić, proposed the cancellation of the program marking the Day of the Old Town Municipality.

“Given the seriousness of the situation we are in, it is our duty to eliminate any possibility of virus spread. This means that we will cancel all planned programs that do not have to be held, including the Day of the Old Town Municipality. Many more developed countries have done the same. We have just received a letter from our sister city Bursa and the Osmangazi Municipality from Turkey stating that they have also canceled the celebration of their Municipality Day as a precaution,” said Mayor Hadžibajrić.

“If the danger of infection spread passes, the session can be held in a reduced scope. There is nothing more important than people's health, and we will take all measures to protect it, both for citizens and for our employees and councilors,” Mayor Hadžibajrić stated.

Due to the extraordinary situation caused by the coronavirus outbreak, the municipal mayor and the Municipal Civil Protection Staff have previously adopted measures to: allocate 500,000 KM for one-time financial assistance to the most vulnerable categories of the population in the Old Town, reduce the rental price of business premises and public areas owned by the Municipality, as well as advertisements, by 50% until the end of April, shorten the working hours of catering facilities in this municipality until 10:00 PM, and allow citizens to use the parking lot in the public underground garage opposite the City Hall free of charge until the end of this month, in order to reduce their daily living costs.