Sarajevo as prey in the jaws of the "Trojka": We are suffocating in garbage, stench, dirt

When your possibilities are modest and your ambitions are high, you get a government that has been leading Sarajevo Canton for the second term.

And such a government cannot ennoble society, create new value, and worst of all, it doesn't know how to maintain even what has been functioning more or less until then.

This was shown yesterday during an all-day repair after a water pipe burst in the Malta settlement on the main road. Overnight, the water destroyed part of the road, and the VIK teams began repairs on Sunday morning, which lasted until late afternoon. And while VIK was providing some kind of information via social networks, the director of VIK, Adnan Šerak, did not distinguish himself with his appearance wearing sunglasses "because the repair was being done". 

Around midday, the municipality of Novo Sarajevo announced the placement of water tanks at two locations. And then the residents of the Grbavica, Hrasno, and Malta settlements relived a day from the period 1992-1995, carrying canisters and bottles to fill with much-needed water.

In recent years, the VIK company has borrowed millions of euros from the EBRD for the renovation of water infrastructure, but the realization of that project remained somewhere in the papers, and the money is gone.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister of KS Nihad Uk, the Minister of Communal Economy Mladen Pandurević, who is not even seen by ministers at KS Government sessions, nor messages from the informal head of the government in KS Elmedin Konaković, whose cadres have been leading this company for years, were not present at the scene. In the last six years, three directors of VIK have changed, and all are from Narod i Pravda.

War and peace in one picture (Photo: social networks)

When did you hear from this company that they have a plan for mass connections to the existing network, while the city is expanding and developing relentlessly? Will such breakdowns become commonplace if construction in Sarajevo continues, and what is the solution? Will we reach a situation where Sarajevo suffocates in feces?

And while we wait for another pipe to burst and paralyze half the city, Sarajevo is fighting another battle. And that is with communal cleanliness.

The head of KJKP Rad is another cadre from NIP, Emir Dobrača. It's no longer possible to count how many in the past seven years. What is evident is that Sarajevo is turning into a city of garbage. Besides being a city of film, good food, a city of rich history, we are now also becoming a "stinking city".

There is a lack of containers and bins for waste in Sarajevo settlements, and in Dobrinja, one of the most populous settlements, heaps of garbage in and around containers regularly greet you on Monday mornings. KJKP apparently does not consider the need to introduce additional collection times for bulky waste. Given the amount of garbage and the spring deratization that has not yet been carried out, we are threatened with a new epidemic of leptospirosis. If there are problems in this company with waste collection or with insufficient machinery and personnel, then the KS Government should also take care of it. But it is unacceptable that just before the start of the tourist season, although there are always tourists in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo looks like some African village where there are no laws or order, and everything is decided by a tribal leader.

And even the former main proponents of the "Trojka" can no longer close their eyes to what they see: garbage everywhere, unkempt grass, dirty streets, the stench spreading along the main Sarajevo promenades from and around the waste bins, unkempt and worn-out public transport vehicles, and even new trams that are full of dust.

These days, some of the old GRAS trams have also been returned to the tracks. Three months after the tragic tram accident in which 23-year-old Erdoan Morankić lost his life and a young woman was disabled, we have no answer as to why the accident happened and whether the citizens of Sarajevo are safe while using public transport. There is also no answer as to where the 25 new trams are, because they are not on the tracks. At least not in that number.

It should not be forgotten that the government in KS has increased the prices of almost all communal services and GRAS tickets in the last year, and the quality of service has not improved. On the contrary.

And while the communal economy is struggling with debt, the KS Government is borrowing to cover the budget deficit.

The city that survived a 1425-day siege seems not to be able to easily escape the jaws of the "Trojka" and its ambitious but immature cadres...