Major infrastructure projects in Stari Grad to begin in spring

SARAJevo, (Patria) - The implementation of four capital projects announced by the Municipality of Stari Grad: the construction of an underground garage in Avdage Šahinagić street, the construction of a sports hall at Primary School "Edhem Mulabdić", the upgrade of the Stari Grad Health Center building, and the insulation of the Stari Grad Municipality building, has entered a new phase, confirmed the Mayor of Stari Grad Municipality, Ibrahim Hadžibajrić, at a working breakfast held this morning for media representatives.

Namely, according to new information, the signing of the loan agreement approved for the Municipality of Stari Grad, between the Saudi Fund for Development and the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH, will take place next month, when, according to confirmations from the competent Ministry, the arrival of a multi-member delegation from Saudi Arabia is announced.

In addition, on Monday, the Public Call for interested companies to submit their pre-qualification applications for the aforementioned works concludes, after which an evaluation of the submitted applications will follow. Companies that meet the criteria stated in the Public Call will be sent tender documentation to submit their professional-technical and financial offers. After that, the contractor will be selected.

- According to our estimates, the procedure for selecting the contractor can be completed by autumn, when it will be definitively known who will build the mentioned projects. We will not start the works before the spring of next year, and all four projects will begin simultaneously. A mitigating circumstance is that the bidding process is conducted according to the rules and procedures of the Saudi Fund for Development, so we are sure from that side that there can be no postponement of works due to possible complaints - said Hadžibajrić.

Otherwise, the procedure for approving and ratifying this loan debt is taking place at higher levels of government, where the financing of the Stari Grad Municipality projects is being resolved together with the financing of certain projects in the City of Mostar, and for these reasons the procedures are taking so long. It was previously estimated that the projects would start much earlier, but as Hadžibajrić explained, the Municipality of Stari Grad has done everything in its power to speed up the procedures and complete the obligations that the Municipality had, and the rest was beyond its power.

The Public Call was issued on June 1st of this year, and companies that have specific experience in such and similar projects in the last three years, and which have worked on such and similar projects whose value was the same or similar to the value of the projects being built by the Municipality, as well as companies that provide proof of financial stability – balance sheets in the last three years, etc., could apply.

Speaking about infrastructure works, Hadžibajrić said that in the first six months of this year, the Municipality allocated about 1.4 million KM for communal infrastructure.

- We have focused on communal infrastructure, and we have carried out reconstruction of sewage systems, asphalting, and paving. A lot of work has been completed, but there is even more to be done by the end of the year. In addition to the above, this year we will build six new children's playgrounds in Stari Grad: at Vratnik and Širokača they are already completed, the Bijela bašča playground is under construction, and construction is starting at the locations Nadmlini, Ablagin sokak, and Obhodža - said Hadžibajrić.

He also announced a major project for the revitalization of the historical route from Bentbaša, through Šehova korija to Kozija ćuprija – along the left bank of the Miljacka River.