Is Ejubović turning Hadžići into an industrial zone: The crime over the land of PDI Bjelašnica continues

The first phase of removing dilapidated business facilities, deposited waste and debris from the plateau of the former Wood Industry Company “Bjelašnica” Hadžići has been completed. In the coming period, the second phase will follow, which involves demolishing business buildings at the entrance to the plateau, final land arrangement and installation of a protective fence. The works are being carried out by the construction company “Bucomerc”, and financed by the Hadžići Municipality, boasted the mayor of Hadžići, Hamdo Ejubović, Patria reports.

However, nowhere is it stated how much this „investment“ cost, nor is it mentioned how much the second part of the land clearing will cost when the building of the former giant PDI „Bjelašnica“ is demolished. Incidentally, from the very beginning of this story, everything has been shrouded in secrecy, and residents of this municipality, as well as some opposition parties, have expressed suspicion that it involves criminal activities.

Now the mayor says that this land, covering an area of 96 dunams, will be available to interested investors to start businesses in this area at the beginning of next year.

- Our conditions are extremely favorable if someone wants to start an industry and employ as many people from the unemployment bureau as possible. There is no similar space like this in the vicinity of Sarajevo, so we expect the industrial zone to quickly come to life for the purpose for which it is intended - said Ejubović.

Mirsad Dupovac, a councilor from the SDP, says that at the session of the Hadžići Municipal Council, he will raise the question of to whom this construction land will be sold and how much the infrastructure works will cost.

- For years, we have been trying to make Hadžići interesting for tourism, and now in the center of Hadžići, because that land is in the center, we are talking about some industrial zone – says Dupovac and added that they will only have the Budget Execution Report at the end of January, and then they will know how much the arrangement of this land cost.

Incidentally, for infrastructure projects for 2017, the budget initially planned a little over one million KM, but this was increased by 607,000 KM through a rebalance, so these expenditures will now amount to 1,800,000 KM.

Let us recall, Ejubović and the director of the company Herpal d.o.o. Sarajevo, Ljiljanko Palac, signed a contract at the Municipality building at the end of 2015 for the purchase and sale of 96 dunams of land of the former wood industry company Bjelašnica Hadžići, worth 5.3 million KM. The first suspicion about the deal arose because Palac bought the best wood industry in the country in 2006 for 200,000 marks, and then sold the destroyed one for 5.3 million KM. Incidentally, the previous owner of PDI Bjelašnica was GP Butmir, which bought this company through the Cantonal Agency for Privatization in August 2001.

It is important to note that at the time of the sale of DI Bjelašnica, some plants were still operating, and workers were earning wages. However, soon everything was destroyed, but an official investigation into the suspicious privatization was not conducted.

The SDP publicly warned that it would be logical for a contract to be signed after such claims by the mayor and the Prime Minister of the Sarajevo Canton Government, Elmedin Konaković, especially since large sums of money are involved. But, triumphantly, Ejubović announces that this is a bold move, because there will be an industrial zone here, which should attract investors. The Municipality also tried to hide the problem that arose due to parking, whose owner came forward later, because his share was never paid out in the privatization, but then a public request was made to investigate the privatization and purchase of land in DI „Bjelašnica" Hadžići, why were the councilors and citizens deceived?

- Why did the Hadžići Municipality pay the court costs and disputes for the parking lot of DI Bjelašnica from the Municipal Budget three years ago, if it was a private company. We publicly demand that the 400,000 KM for court disputes and court costs, for the illegal seizure of land from the citizens of Donji Hadžići, which is paid from the Municipal Budget with citizens' funds, be paid by the management officials and functionaries of the Hadžići Municipality out of their own pockets, because they did not even follow the recommendation of some councilors, who already then announced that the Municipality would lose the dispute if they did not act according to the legal procedure – demanded from the SDP.

It is known that no one has been held accountable for the destroyed companies so far, that large giants were systematically looted and destroyed, that politics stands behind it, that many have filled their pockets well from the destroyed companies. It is also known that after the war, in criminal privatization, more economic giants were destroyed than during the aggression itself.