Tag: Kosovo

On October 20th, 2017, Kosovo’s Elections Complaints and Appeals Panel, ECAP, imposed  fines worth a total of 20,150 thousand euros to five political entities as a result of BIRN Kosovo and Internews Kosova’s written complaints regarding alleged violations of the Law on Elections during the local election campaign.

As a result of the panel’s decision, The Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, received a fine worth 3 thousand euros; The New Kosovo Alliance, AKR, was fined 5,100 euros; The Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, has received three fines adding up to 6,450 euros; the new Kosovo political party Alternativa has received a fine for 3,600 euros; and finally, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, was fined 2,000 euros.

This decision follows several previous decisions by ECAP to reprimand political parties for violating Kosovo’s Law on Elections following complaints from BIRN Kosovo and Internews Kosova.

KALLXO.com will report on each decision individually in the coming days.

Will the future mayor of Novo Brdo manage to solve all of its problems?

The Municipality of Novo Brdo is one of the smallest municipalities in Kosovo. It has less than 10 thousand residents, around 60 per cent of which are Serb. It has a budget that is barely above two million euros, which is insufficient to solve the problems that have remained since the Kosovo War.

One of the oldest residencies of Kosovo, almost 18 years after the war, still faces problems such as a lack of water, a lack of basic health services, unemployment, the lack of development, and economic weakness to provide citizens with basic infrastructure.

Currently, Novo Brdo is led by Mayor Svetislav Ivanoviq, who is running for his second mandate, and is challenged by four other candidates representing the political parties the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK and the New Kosovo Alliance, AKR.

BIRN Kosovo’s mayoral debate series #DebatPernime (#RealDebates) is presenting research on the issues in Kosovo’s municipalities and offering citizens a chance to hear the mayors’ platforms and solutions.

One major problem citizens bring up is the lack of water. The majority of water system supplied to the municipality is dysfunctional due to the interruption of electricity by KEDS, due to the debt that is over 80 thousand euros.

The water supply is located in the village of Llabjan, which supplies water to the neighborhoods Mustafa, Abaza, Talaj, Haxhaj, Zeqiraj, and Stojkovic. This water supply is out of function due to property issues.

Other non-functioning water supply systems are found also in the villages of Makresh and Kufca.

In 2015, the Municipality of Novo Brdo signed a memorandum with the regional water supply company Hidromorava in an attempt to bring its residents drinking water. However, even two years after the signing of this memorandum, the citizens continue to use wells that they’ve opened on their own.

The poor health of Novo Brdo

The residents of Novo Brdo, apart from lack of water supply systems, have to be careful about consuming the water from their wells, since the doctor in Novo Brdo is only available until four in the afternoon, and only on certain days of the week. There is no gynecologist or care. For health issues, residents must otherwise travel to Prishtina or Gjilan.

The lack of professional medical staff is not the only health problem in Novo Brdo; apart from the terrible infrastructural conditions, residents also face a lack of various medications, especially materials that are spent, which make the commitment of basic medical services impossible in family medicine centers.

Infrastructure

Despite the fact that there have been some investments, with only 370 thousand euros available for the municipality of Novo Brdo, the infrastructure of this may continue to disappoint residents.

The lack of a sewage systems in the majority of villages in the Municipality of Novo Brdo is one of the main problems. Also, the lack of roads paved with asphalt in Makresh, Kosaqë, and partly in Pasjak and Llabjan, is an additional problem.

Another problem is the issue of sidewalks and public lighting, both of which are rarely found in Novo Brdo.

Economic development

From almost 10 thousand residents in Novo Brdo, around 1,700 of them are unemployed and are registered with the employment office, while there are 648 cases of residents who receive social assistance due to their essential needs.

For the citizens of Novo Brdo, one primary source of income is mining work. Despite the fact that this municipality has a suitable environment to develop farming, the lack of infrastructure and basic services discourage investors.

The Municipality of Novo Brdo has not managed to enhance the tourist potential of the medieval castle, despite the fact that it is widely visited by citizens from Kosovo and foreign tourists.

What are the problems and challenges the next mayor of Junik will face?

The municipality that preserves the ancient history of governance from the Dukagjin towers towards its path of development faces major challenges. The investment budget does not exceed the annual budget of an average business, despite a dire need for investments.

Junik is inhabited by 6,200 people. The mayor of the municipality manages an annual budget of 1.6 million euros, out of which only 330 thousand are allocated for capital investments.

The most challenging problem of the next mayor will be the ‘independence from Deçan,’ considering that citizens of Junik should travel to Deçan to receive most of the services they were supposed to initially get in Junik.

KALLXO.com’s investigation shows that Junik has no center for vehicle registration, although this municipality was established in 2005. Also, Junik citizens must travel to Deçan in order to apply for both vehicle registration and national identification cards.

The KALLXO.com team has also identified problems in the education sector. The only High School in the municipality has no sports center. Although Junik has high hopes for tourism, there are no catering and tourism departments within the school.

The establishment of the court branch in Junik, the establishment of the water supply company, and construction of the bus stations are further problems this municipality continuously faces.

Although Junik has a high tourism potential, and bearing in mind that the previous leaders of the municipality promised to provide the interested students with a catering and tourism department, the high school lacks such a department.

The kindergarten of Junik, where children ages three to six are enrolled, has only two rooms. The pictures of this kindergarten show that bathrooms are not only dirty, but also have damaged sanitary nodes, which pose a risk for the children health.

In regards with infrastructure, Junik has struggled to repair the road in the village of Gjonaj – the last inhabited village along the road that leads to the highest peak in Kosovo, Gjeravica.
The road rehabilitated by the municipality may only be crossed by vehicles produced for mountainous zones, and it remains unpaved.

KALLXO.com’s investigation shows that the urban zone of the municipality also has issues with infrastructure.

The Agim Ramadani neighborhodd, the biggest neighborhood in Junik, has no sidewalks or public lightning.  The Goqaj neighborhood and the second part of the Cestaj neighborhood remain in the same situation too.

There is a lack of maintenance of the cemetery zone, co-financed by the Swiss Cooperation organization and the municipality. Although the investment has been made, the cemetery zone has in the meantime covered in shears, and as such, no one has been buried in these cemeteries.

Waste and Sewage

The municipality that aims to develop tourism on the ancient towers and mountains of Gjeravica has a huge problem with waste treatment.

The citizens are complaining that waste is not collected regularly, and thus, creating waste landfills. The KALLXO.com team found piles of waste thrown along touristic zones, the river of Erenick, and other areas. Junik has an implantation, but is not functional yet.

The green market and bus station

Junik does not have a green market or a proper bus station.  Merchants, especially small-capacity producers, are using the sidewalks and roads to sell their products.

Junik’s citizens are forced to wait for the bus in an open-air environment during rainy and snowy days as well. The bus station is not compliant with any of the relevant standards: there is no building, there is no bathroom, and no water taps.

The Project regarding the construction of the green market started in 2013. The municipality has identified the area for the construction of the given market, and has managed to secure a cooperation agreement, but the land of the municipality allocated for the construction of the market has ownership disputes.

For years, Prishtina has lacked a Law on the Capital. As a consequence, the city for years now has had a smaller budget than a capital city is supposed to have. Prishtina receives a budget for 205,000 residents, when in fact there are many other families that live in Prishtina but are registered as residents of other municipalities. There are also many commuters who travel to Prishtina on a daily basis. They create expenses for Prishtina, but the municipality does not get anything in return.

Prishtina is faced with many problems that require a solution. The usurped public spaces and sidewalks, the damaged streets, the absence of parking lots, the absence of green spaces, air pollution, waste and illegal disposals, the illegality of many apartments and houses, the absence of a decent market for fruit and vegetables, the absence of a stadium that fulfills FIFA criteria, and the absence of a sports hall that fulfills FIBA conditions are some of the problems of the largest city in Kosovo.

Urban chaos, the absence of sidewalks and parking lots

The usurped public spaces and sidewalks make the life of every pedestrian in the city of Prishtina difficult. An investigation conducted by BIRN has identified around 200 public spaces and sidewalks that are usurped, only in the radius of the center of Prishtina.

Titled The Map of Usurpers, the map characterizes a variety of sidewalk usurpations. Areas where pedestrians cannot walk on the sidewalk have been identified, along with places where only carriages cannot pass through sidewalks, usurpers that have dominated the sidewalks permanently, barriers on the sidewalks, as well as “public barriers,” such as electric pegs and traffic signs.

During the last mandate, a lot of work was done to relieve sidewalks from parked cars through the placement of barriers. Despite the fact that some sort of poles were created during the previous governance, many sidewalks are better than they were during the previous mandate.

However, Prishtina continues to have a serious problem with the absence of parking lots. In the survey “The Index of Citizen Satisfaction with Municipal Services in Prishtina” conducted by INPO, which was published in August 2017, it turns out that among the dissatisfactions of citizens of Prishtina, what dominates is the absence of parking lots and the inability of pedestrians to walk freely. 81.51 per cent of the persons who responded to the survey had expressed their dissatisfaction with the absence of parking lots.

The finding of a solution for parking lots has been one of the main promises of Mayor Ahmeti. Projects for underground parking lots have been initiated with the aim of being implemented in partnership with the private sector. However, these have not been implemented yet. There were clashes between the heads of Prishtina and the Kosovo Government due to the stagnation of such projects. The municipality accuses the Committee for Public-Private Partnership (compiled of five Ministers, with the head being the former Minister of Finance, Avdullah Hoti) for blockading the project for underground parking lots near the Faculty of Philology, whereas the Ministry of Finance says that the municipality has not finished its obligation to get a license from the University of Prishtina.

The underground parking lot near the University of Prishtina, which has been promised for years now, is again a promise of candidates during this campaign.

The environment

Prishtina also has issues with waste, especially sewage and polluted air. In the report published by the GAP institute, it is said that there is a non-management of the space at the area “Field of Reconciliation,” on Kolovica Street on the way to the village of Llukar: this area has 17 acres of land which is mainly used for dumping waste. In 2015 the municipality of Prishtina started making his place greener, but it was interrupted in the middle of the process with the excuse that the space belongs to the Prishtina Regional Company for Water. The municipality has removed hundreds of waste with trucks from this space in 2014. However, two years later, citizens dumped waste again, returning the area to its previous state. There is also trouble with collecting waste in the city as well as in villages.

Another problem is the Mirash Disposal, which is the place where the waste of Prishtina ends up. An investigation conducted by Life in Kosovo has revealed that the dumping of waste there is causing a great danger that could cause an ecological catastrophe. Also, the majority of suburban neighborhoods are not equipped with bins for dumping trash.

Air remains a serious concern of the citizens of the capital. The air pollution is caused by the work of KEK’s power plants, Teromokos, individual houses, and cars. In December 2016, based on the measurements conducted by the American Embassy, the numbers were alarming. The air was once announced as “damaging” and in some days also as “almost dangerous.” This air pollution mainly comes from motor vehicles, power plants where coal is burnt, wood and lignite burning by citizens, fires in mountains, agricultural burning, and industrial buildings.

Also, the capital city has problems with municipal spaces, which continue to be usurped. The Municipality of Prishtina has identified a list of usurped properties.

Booming constructions

Prishtina has stopped illegal constructions, but it has distributed 500 other licenses within one mandate. The capital city has entered an interesting phase of discussions for making changes in urban planning, while there are many other municipal spaces that are still usurped.

Due to the non-legalization of buildings that have been built, a huge economic potential has been stuck. The citizens have bought apartments, but due to the technical decline and the legalization, they cannot use the real estate as bank mortgages; or they cannot sell, which is something that limits the circulation of assets and the opportunity of generating profits for citizens.

There are still villages of the capital that are not linked to the water supply system. The villages Sharbani, Koliqi, Dabishevci, Marevci, Keqekolla, Mramori, Mareci, Slivova, Grashtica and Siqeva are still unlinked to the water supply system. And according to the Water Supply Company, it is a responsibility of the municipality to do research for drinkable water supply systems, as well as to invest, since the Water Supply Company deals only with managing and operating in rural systems.

One of the most successful projects has been the heating provision from power plants of KEK. According to an investigation by GAP institute, it was concluded that the project of co-generation has increased the well-being of citizens through the increase of quality in heating systems, and it has also decreased the cost of producing thermal energy. The expansion of the network has three advantages: it brings cheaper bills for customers (because they currently use electricity or coal for heating), which as a consequence results in less energy consumption and less coal burning, leading to less pollution to the environment.

However, the project of heating the city currently covers only 5 per cent of the potential customers in the capital city (according to GAP), which means that there are only 12 citizens who are customers of Termokos.

Illegal taxi drivers and noise

During recent years, there have oftentimes been protests of public transport companies for the increase of illegal taxi drivers, which bring competition to them. According to GAP, the municipality of Prishtina has not managed to stop the circulation of illegal taxi drivers. This form of operation has severely damaged the urban traffic company, which finds it difficult to have a high number of passengers due their ability to use illegal taxi drivers. Apart from damaging the Urban Traffic company, it also damages companies that operate privately but are licensed for transporting citizens.

During 2014-2017, the municipality took seven actions to punish illegal taxi-drivers with the aim of removing them. The results of these actions lasted only a few days and the illegal taxi drivers have returned to the different routes. They are mainly seen in the line Prishtina-Fushe-Kosova, Prishtina-Podujeva, and within the city of Prishtina, especially in the Sunny Hill Street and in the relation toward the Germia Park.

Also, another problem for the municipality is the noise coming from bars during the night. According to GAP, the hotel premises in Prishtina are allowed to play music outside of their bar only until midnight. This is not respected, causing dissatisfaction especially for the citizens who live in the center of the city. This problem is especially seen on the streets Rexhep Luci, Fehmi Agani, Tringe Smajli, and nearby Street B.

Prishtina’s bill that did not manage to become a law

The majority of problems of Prishtina derive from the absence of a special law for the capital city. The bill on Prishtina, which now is subject to procedures in the assembly, would bring a few benefits to the capital city. Among others, this bill foresees the following, the additional budget worth 4 per cent of the general grant for municipalities; the right to establishing public municipal enterprises without extra approvals from the government; the secondary health or the City Hospital as well as the Directorate of Municipal Police within the Kosovo Police which would deal with Prishtina.

Blame has circulated from party to party for the blocking of this law.

The Law on Prishtina foresees that the capital city should have a budget up to 4 per cent of the total budget. In numbers, this means that Prishtina will have 14.4 million euros more in the budget.

Prishtina will a higher budget if the law is approved, but how is it going to spend that money remains a question, as Prishtina has had a budget surplus year after year.

The General Audit Office has stated that the scale of capital projects implementation and the spending of own source means from the municipality of Prishtina was not at a satisfactory level. According to the National Audit Office, weak budget implementation results in a non-efficient use of funds available, while it reduces the efficiency of plans for spending according to programs.

The final budget of Prishtina for the year 2016 was planned to be 73 million euros. However, it was implemented with only 58 million euros, or 80 per cent. In 2016, according to the Audit of Prishtina, capital investments worth 20 million euros were implemented.

The General Audit Office has stated that the scale of capital project implementation and the spending of own source entries by the municipality of Prishtina was not at a satisfactory level.

The audit says that the municipality of Prishtina finances all its capital projects based on its own source entries, which is why it has had a low implementation of capital projects, where only 58 per cent of the capital investments have been implemented. According to the audit, with an increase of performance, the implementation of the budget for capital investments can increase by 20 per cent. In the report published this year, the audit has listed the amount of means that remained as surplus by the municipality of Prishtina. In 2014, 5.9 million euros were transferred; in 2015, 16.3 million euros were transferred; in 2016, 6.3 million euros were transferred, and in 2017, 7.2 million euros were transferred.

The final population census shows that the capital city has 204,721 residents, but approximately double this amount commute for work to the capital city.

Will the future mayor of Lipjan address the residents’ grievances?

In the population assessment conducted in 2012, the municipality of Lipjan has 58 thousand residents and a budget of 13.1 million euros.

Almost half of the neighborhoods in Lipjan do not have a water supply system at all: 29 neighborhoods out of the 62 do not have a water supply system.

The KALLXO.com team, after conducting research in the field, has noted that the villages that are linked to the water supply system, such as the villages of Magura and Janjeva, experience severe water cuts.

The villages that do not have a water supply system at all include: Toplican, Gracka e Vgel, Kraishta, Zllakuqani, Krojmiri, and Rusinovci.

The lack of water is one of the many struggles the future mayor will be asked to address after the upcoming local elections, for which there are five candidates running for mayor.

Out of these five men, three already have political positions in this municipality. No women are running for mayor of Lipjan. In the population assessment, conducted in 2012, Lipjan has 58 thousand residents and a budget of 13.1 million euros.

Lipjan also has problems with the sewage systems. Fourteen neighborhoods do not have a sewage system. The remaining areas, 48 villages, have a sewage system, but the sewage ends up in the Sitnica River. The field investigation conducted by KALLXO.com shows that the condition of rivers in the Municipality of Lipjan is dire: waste is being thrown into the waters, the surface waters are dirty, sewage pours into the rivers.

The citizens have reported to KALLXO.com that in Lipjan’s Janjevka River, near the Ulpiana High School, the city sewage system passes through and the residents of that neighborhood cannot stay in their houses due to the terrible odor.

According to GAP Institute, despite the fact that during this mandate, the municipality built two collectors for the treatment of sewage (collector 1: the treatment of sewage systems in the villages of Kraishta, Ribar i Madh, Ribar i Vogel, Poturovc, Torina, Dobraje e Madhe, and the main collector in Lluga, with a length of 6,600 meters; and collector 2: the treatment of sewage systems in villages Bujari, with the overall collector for sewage systems of Smallusha, Qollapek, Marec, Gllavice, Llugaxhi and Kojska, with a length of 8,000 meters), because there is a lack of sewage treatment/collection plants, the sewage is pouted in the the Sitnica River.

Lipjan also has issues with illegal waste disposals. Our team has shown that the rivers are contaminated, especially because of the waste that is thrown into the waters by the citizens themselves. In the village of Gadime, despite the fact that protective walls for the river have been built, there is still a presence of waste. One part of the river is completely covered by grass, while the other is covered in waste.

Whereas in the Sitnica River, protective walls for the river have been built. According to the GAP Institute, the municipality and the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning have signed an agreement for cooperation on financing the project for building the surface of Sitnica River for the amount of 170,000 euros.

Education

The Municipality of Lipjan, despite the investments in schools, continues to have problems in the education sector. The KALLXO.com team has found that in the school Ibrahim Krasniqi school, located in village of Smallusha, students must use the bathrooms outside the buildings, because the bathrooms inside the school building do not have sufficient water to be kept cleaned.

Also, life in the village New Topliqan, the Vellezerit Frasheri Elementary School, where children attend classes from preschool to fifth grade, is a very poor condition. The school’s bathrooms are basically destroyed, and the school does not have a sports hall.

According to data from the Municipality of Lipjan, “8 schools have sports halls, while the majority of schools have open sport spaces.”

Lipjan has only one kindergarden, and no kindergardens have been built during the past four years, not even the multi-ethnic kindergarten, which was an agreement of cooperation with the organization “Rrugetimi” under UNICEF.

Infrastructure

In New Topliqan, apart from the problem with the school building, there are also problems with asphalt. The Muse Meta Street is completely unpaved, which causes the road to become muddy. Also in this village, on Rexhep Stublla Street, which leads to the Vellezerit Frasheri Elementary School, the road is unpaved.

The municipality of Lipjan has mainly invested in infrastructure, but what is noticeable is that villages such as Kraishtë, Ribar, Smallushë and Magurë have only partial sidewalks and public lighting. The general audit has given a remark that the Municipality of Lipjan has given a tender worth 28 thousand euros without having a project for building sidewalks in the village Llugaxhi.

Apart from these problems, Lipjan faces also damages to asphalt in the village of New Rifc, where there are cracks on the roads and some potholes.

Health

Lipjan does have gynecologists, but there is a lack of citizen trust in the institution. There are two gynecologists-obstetricians to help mothers give birth to their children. However, in the period January-September, in the maternity department of the center for medicine in Lipjan, according to the director of the main center for family medicine, Agim Krasniqi, there were only 5 births. In the same period, there were 134 cases which included removal of stiches of mothers who gave birth outside of the main family centers in Lipjan. Hence, the number of births given can be even bigger, but the citizens do not believe that there are proper conditions to give birth in the main center for family medicine of Lipjan

The director himself admits that in order to increase the number of births given in this center, a complete team is needed.

“In order to increase the number of births given, we must have a complete team which would include at least two anesthesiologists and gynecologists, as well as serviced for warm meals for maternity. These are conditions offered at the secondary care (hospitals), so it escalates the concept of primary care, respectively the concept of family medicine,” Krasniqi said.

Our investigation shows that also the dentistry building is in a bad condition, and often lacks dentistry supplies.

While the emergency clinic, which was built recently in the village Smallusha, is functionalized, there is no doctor or equipment.

the municipality officials themselves have admitted that there are complaints that main centers of family medicines, centers of family medicines, and other centers of medicine are out of basic supplies.

“Supply from the Ministry of Health with medications and supplies from the essential medicine list is up to 50 per cent, and around 25 per cent is filled from the revenues of the municipality for basic supplies, labs, and dentistry supplies, which is entirely covered by the municipal budget. However, the fulfillment of citizens needs remain difficult to be finished,” the municipality said in a statement.

Also, Lipjan has trouble with money surplus which it has not been able to spend within the year. The audit says that a cumulative surplus worth 757 thousand euros from its own source entries since year 2016 and earlier has been transferred to the year 2017.

“The financial statements of funds, compared to other categories, reveals that there is a lower level of budget spending when it comes to capital investments (86 per cent). This is because of the failures to finish implementing capital projects in accordance with dynamic plans,” stated the audit report for financial statements of Lipjan in 2016.

The own source entries of Lipjan completed during 2016 totaled 1.1 million euros. If the transferred revenues from the previous years are taken into account, according to the audit, Lipjan collected 1.6 million euros in 2016.

The GAP Institute says that Lipjan has the biggest number of economic zones. The municipality has these announced economic zones: the Economic Industrial Zone- QMI with a surface of 87 acres, the Economic Zone “Industrial Park” in Kerqeva with a surface of 139 acres, the Mixed Zone with 120 acres, and the Airport Zone (ZE – A), with 190 acres.

Will the next Mayor of Viti manage to solve its problems?

Four men are vying for the position of mayor of the Municipality of Viti.

The three candidates running against current mayor Sokol Haliti are millionaires. The candidate from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, Nura, is a businessman.  A slightly less wealthy candidate is Besim Halimi from the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, who claims that his wealth exceeds millions.

Salih Salihu, from Vetevendosje, has real estate worth 2.2 million euros and is also running.

In the meantime, the current mayor, Sokol Haliti, for this year, declared inheritance from his father worth of 125 thousand euros, house worth 70 thousand euros, and about 33 thousand euros cash in the bank.

Although Viti, inhabited by around 47 thousand people, has a department of gynecology, women in this municipality give birth in other cities, considering that is impossible within the municipality of Viti.

KALLXO.com’s research reveals that Viti has enourmous problems with illegal landfills, drinking water and sewage. The education system is not good either. The municipality of Viti has only one public kindergarten, and only one physical education hall.

The municipality of Viti has a budget of about 10 million euros per year.

Health

The GAP Institute states that Viti has issues in providing healthcare. According to GAP’s data, a doctor in Viti serves 308 residents, unlike the average of other municipalities, where a doctor serves 288 residents.

Apart from insufficient staff, Viti also does not have enough space to take care after those in need. KALLXO.com’s investigation shows that those who must be on dialysis have to travel to Gjilan or Ferizaj in order to receive hemodialysis services, considering there is no department dealing with the treatment of these persons.

Although there is a gynecology department in Viti, there are no births taking place there, only check-ups.

Women of Viti must travel more than 21 kilometers to the Gjilan’s hospital or that of Ferizaj in order to give birth.

On the other hand, the Pozhoran village has more than four thousand residents; there are health centers that were built during the current mandate, but there is no dentist. The residents of this village told KALLXO.com that they are in need of a team of dentists. Even though the municipality has not provided the health centers with any dentists, three private clinics are currently functioning in this village.

Sports and culture

For the first time in Viti’s history, a football club has managed to play in the local football superleauge. Pozhoran’s KF Vllaznia is playing this year  in the Kosovo football elite; however, the matches are not taking place at its stadium. This is due to the poor infrastructure of the stadium. KF Vllaznia is forced to play matches at the stadium of Gjilan, and Viti’s residents are not able to watch their home team matches.

NSERT PHOTO 1 – Pozheran Stadium

In addition to not being able to watch the KF Vllaznia matches at their own stadium, Viti residents are also not able to attend theater events, since the Municipality lacks a theater. Viti was a grantee for a 3D cinema donation, but it has not been functionalized.

Viti also has an Olympic sports player. Last year, Urata Rama was one of the eight Olympians who presented Kosovo at the Olympics in Rio, Brazil. However, Urata lacked institutional support. In 2016, the municipality provided her with an amount of 959 euros in subsidies during her stay in Rio, which translates into about 80 euros per day.

Illegal waste landfills

Although the center of the city creates the impression of a completely clean municipality with no landfills, this, this changes when one visits other areas across the city.

KALLXO.com has found that there are over 20 illegal landfills in the Municipality of Viti. This was also admitted by the municipal officials themselves.

According to municipal officials, they have gotten rid of some illegal landfills, but they haven’t managed to completely eradicate them yet.

Education

Only one school in Viti has a physical education hall. Other schools own sporting structures, however, it is impossible to provide physical education classes during the winter season and rainy weather within these structures.

The General Auditor has stated that although the Municipality of Viti has allocated student scholarship funds, it has decided not to allocate the money to the students, but to keep them for itself instead. KALLXO.com found that the scholarships planned for the academic year 2016/2017 were only distributed in July 2017. Therefore, 135 students were granted their scholarships late. According to the municipal officials, the scholarships were provided within the academic year; however, the students already finished their exams in June.

There is only one public kindergarten and one other private kindergarten in the municipality of Viti. According to municipal officials, they have the space for kindergarten buildings, considering that they may use a part of a school for it, but they also state that they lack funds to pay the staff.

Sewage and water supply

The Municipality of Viti has also issues with drinking water and sewage. The inhabitants of the villages of Sllatinë e Epërme and Lower, Trestenik, Sadovinë e Çerfeldit and Sadovinë of Jerlive are not yet connected to the water supply network, although the municipality states that it has invested in the water supply system. Four other villages in the municipality, Goshica, Gërmova, Vërbani and Smira, are not connected to the water supply network either.

KALLXO.com’s investigation shows that in other villages of the municipality, there are problems with water supply systems, which are not managed by Hidromorava. According to the data provided, areas that remain connected to water supply, and are not managed by any company are: Letnicë, Shashare, Skifteraj, Begunce, Kabash, Binqe, Shusht, Terpeze, Budrike and Zhiti.
The village of Tërpezë is already contracted but there is no sewerage network; in the village of Begunce, Ramnishtë and in the eastern part of Viti, the sewage network is only 50 per cent completed. Villages that do not have septic tanks, and consequently, have issues with sewage are Devaja, New Village, Upper Budrika, Goshica, Verbani, Sodovina and Ceret, Tresteniku, Lubishte and Kabashi.