Sarajevo Canton Budget for 2019 Adopted

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - After a day-long debate at the Sarajevo Canton Assembly session, the CS Budget of 941,762,186 KM was adopted with 23 votes in favor, one abstention, and 10 against. SDA representatives did not support the budget, justifying it by stating that none of their amendments were accepted.

As highlighted in the introductory presentations by the Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton Edin Forto and the CS Minister of Finance Amel Kovačević, this budget reflects the basic principles and measures agreed upon within the framework of the assembly majority's work. It was also emphasized that due to the short time for creating such a budget, there will certainly be changes and corrections through the announced rebalancing.

Speaking about the economy, Prime Minister Forto announced the transformation of public enterprises in this sector, reducing transfers to them from 2.9 million to 100,000 KM. The Canton will assist these companies by supporting their business projects. Funding and equipping business zones have been increased by 300,000 KM compared to the Draft Budget, bringing this item to 3.6 million KM. The position for supporting entrepreneurship has been reinstated at 2 million KM, and allocations for processes and activities to create a more favorable business environment have been increased to 4.4 million KM.

The Budget includes major projects for the construction of the most important roads: the IX transversal with a total value of 12 million KM, the I transversal, the construction of which will cost 76 million KM, and the construction of the Southern longitudinal road valued at 13.5 million KM. Tram infrastructure, public transport, and other important issues will be addressed in the Transport Strategy, which will outline the direction and investments needed for further action in this area.

For the reconstruction of the water supply network, 6.8 million KM is allocated, of which 3.3 million KM will go to municipalities. The announced extensive reconstruction of this network, as is known, will be financed by EBRD loan funds.

For the implementation of the Action Plan, adopted by the CS Assembly, to combat car theft, 5.4 million KM has been secured in the Budget, in line with the expressed needs of the Police Administration.

In the Draft, the budget position for the Ministry of Veterans' Affairs was reduced by approximately 500,000 KM compared to the previous year, which has been reinstated in the 2019 Budget, and further increased by a total of 920,000 KM compared to the Draft. The Prime Minister particularly emphasized a measure to be implemented through this ministry: retraining programs worth 400,000 KM to economically empower the veteran population.

A special novelty in this Ministry is the Personal Intervention program for disabled veterans, worth 60,000 KM, through which families of paraplegics will have the opportunity to be treated as employed assistants to their family members, and then to others who do not have trained family members for this.

In the education sector, 2.8 million KM is allocated for science support, 250,000 KM for curricular reform, and 750,000 KM for kindergarten reconstruction, with the announcement that after assessing the needs of parents and preschool children, further progress will be made through rebalancing to provide more children with the opportunity to attend kindergartens.

1.8 million KM has been allocated for working with children with developmental disabilities, which will be sufficient to support all good programs in this area before accelerated work begins on a systemic solution to this issue.

An additional million KM is planned for sports support in the Ministry of Culture and Sports, and according to the Prime Minister, the dissatisfaction with insufficient allocations for this area was justified.

"The key answer to managing public companies lies in the sector of labor and social policy. By creating a social card, for which we have allocated 310,000 KM, we have received assurances that we will have a clear picture of who are the people who need some form of social assistance. Once we establish that, we don't have to lower the price of public transport tickets for everyone, but for those who are truly in need, it will be free, we will provide them with heating, insulate their homes, but only for those who truly need it," emphasized Prime Minister Forto, adding that with this approach, funds are freed up for investment in the communal sector and improving the quality of their services.

The Ministry of Labor, Social Policy, Displaced Persons and Refugees has announced an increase of 5 to 6 percent in all social benefits, for which 2 million KM has been allocated.

The largest part of healthcare projects is implemented through the CS Health Insurance Fund. From the position of the relevant ministry, the Parent's House will be financed with 75,000 KM.

For the first time, health insurance for pregnant women and new mothers who are not insured on other grounds has been provided through the Ministry of Health with 100,000 KM.

At the initiative of the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction, and Housing Policy, the project of insulating individual homes for persons in social need has been incorporated into the Budget through amendments, as they will not be able to afford such interventions for a long time, and this will also contribute to reducing air pollution from individual heating systems.

Regarding allocations for municipalities in Sarajevo Canton, the Budget includes items for such transfers, but they will now be made based on submitted projects, not on general agreements. If a municipality and the Canton jointly undertake projects, the Canton wishes to financially support such projects to the end.

"These are just some of the measures to give an impression of how much the Budget has changed compared to the Draft, although its scope and assumptions have not changed. We have also reduced the number of jobs by 200 compared to the Draft. In the Budget rebalancing, we will further emphasize our policies and guidelines for action," Prime Minister Forto stated in his address to the CS Assembly regarding the CS Budget for 2019.

Deputies also adopted the Bill on the Execution of the CS Budget for 2019.