Tag: Kosovo

Krasniqi, who has been mayor since 2009, last year, bought a new Hyundai car, which cost to the budget of the municipality no less than 31,000 euro.

This acquisition, according to the municipal deputy of the Movement for Unity, Ajet Berisha, equals 6.5 per cent of the taxes that the municipality has collected by its residents during 2011.

Meanwhile, during the debate, the mayor of the municipality boasted about his new car. “It’s true that I have a new Hyundai, and that it’s a very good and comfortable car. It can’t get any better”, said Krasniqi, in the debate on “Life in the Municipality”.

Regarding the price of the car, Krasniqi said that it’s one of the cheapest cars that the mayors in the country drive.

This money spent in buying the car could have been used in different projects of this municipality, which for the moment does not have a House of Culture, has major problems in collecting garbage and lacks two schools.

The mayor of the municipality agreed that a house of culture hasn’t been built. And that in the village of Lajthishte, the school is in a very bad condition. However, Krasniqi said that he will implement these projects during this mandate.

The mayor of the most polluted municipality in Kosovo was also criticized for not paying enough attention to waste. “Regarding treating garbage, those responsible for collecting garbage do not do it in 60 percent of the territory”, said Ajet Berisha, the deputy of Movement for Unity.

Regarding the environment, Krasniqi has been criticized especially for the illegal landfills that are on the road Obilic-Pal.

The mayor said that the waste will be removed during this year, since the municipality is about to reach an agreement with the Ministry of the Environment, an agreement which will ensure funding of 300,000 euro to remove the landfills and improve the environment in this area. Krasniqi has warned that he will take measures against those that deposit garbage.

During the debate, it was discussed how the four brothers of the mayor receive salaries from the budget of Kosovo, whereas the fifth brother receives money from the municipality’s budget, not as an employee, but by offering services for the municipality through his business.

However, according to Mayor Rasim Selmanaj, his family members being involved in the municipality is not a result of his position.

Selmanaj explained why his brothers work in the municipality, and also why his brother won the tender of supplying the municipality with office supplies.

“There is no nepotism in my municipality”, Selmanaj said.

He even tried to explain the job positions of his brothers. According to him, they had these positions even before he became mayor.

Selmanaj couldn’t deny that during this mandate, the municipality awarded the tender to the business of his brother Fahri Selmanaj, who now supplies the municipality with office, supplies.

 “It is the procurement office that awarded the tender, not me”, Selmanaj said.

He said that he wasn’t aware of this tender until a journalist called him on the phone and asked.

Selmanaj did not deny that the contract of the municipality with the company “Agimi D” has been signed on August 2, 2010, when he was mayor.

According to Salih Lajci from PDK, the mayor has not kept his promise of cleaning the river. “Today, Lumbardh is not in a better condition and sewage is deposited into this river”, he says.

According to Vesel Nikci from LDK, repairing the riverbed requires a multimillion-euro investment, money that the municipality doesn’t have. “Ali Berisha, when promising the project, should have been careful on what he was promising, as these promises cannot be kept”, Nikci said.

Berisha, who promised in his campaign to build a sewage-treatment plant, said most municipalities face problems of sewage pipes going into rivers. “Building the plants requires great investments”, says Berisha, almost three years after the election campaign.

According to Berisha, until now, no municipality has replaced its sewage plant, with the exception of Prizren, which is still in the process of replacing its plant. Berisha says that foreign donors are needed and expected, since this project is very difficult to implement with the budget of the municipality.

 “We are waiting for a project we have submitted at the Swiss Office; we think that the municipality of Peja is one of the municipalities that should have one of these plants”.

Berisha said other factors were to blame for the failure to prevent illegal deforestation, which he promised to do in his campaign. He has blamed the Agency of Forests in Kosovo for being slow to carry out its responsibilities to municipalities.  

“The responsibilities are being slowly executed; the municipality has its responsibilities in preserving, and not in determining what is to be cut”, says Berisha. The municipality has hired four forest guards for an area of 20,000 hectares of forests.

Another electoral promise of Berisha to develop tourism, was building a cable car, which would take visitors from Peja to the Rugova Gorge “I said the cable car is a dream, and we cannot do it without support. It requires a great investment, of over 20 million euros, “ Berisha said.

He said that a feasibility study has been conducted on this project and officials waiting for foreign investors to help in building it. While going with a cable car to Rugova is a dream, for visitors it’s difficult to get there even with cars, since the 8-kilometer long road to the Boge village continues to not be repaired. Multiple tenders to fix the road have failed.

Berisha said he expects roadwork to start this year and finish next year.

The companies which have contracts with the municipality of Podujevo are likely to receive the payments owed in months or even years.

Agim Veliu, the mayor of Podujevo, did not deny the fact that a substantial part of the budget of the municipality has been spent to pay damages, but he called this a mere fulfillment of obligations.

“Sometimes there are debts; it can happen that a project is projected to cost a specific amount, however unplanned things come up during implementation and as a result of this there are more demands. This is not damage, but a mere fulfillment of obligations,” Veliu said during the debate.

Members of the opposition, however, have their own explanations for why the municipality of Podujevo is short on cash and is unable to fulfill its obligations toward contractors.

According to Blerim Maqastena from Vetevendosje, the municipality spends around 360,000 euros per year on oil. “You have spent around 360,000 euros on oil- around 1,000 euros per day. I do not know how they are spending this or what they do with 1,000 euros of oil products in a day,” Maqastena said.

But Veliu denied these figures. He said that the sum is much smaller, without giving specific figures. Meanwhile he argued that Maqastena was misleading the public. “This is malicious misinformation that Vetevendosje knows how to do.

The truth is very different, the expenses for oil are much smaller, even though not much smaller, but we use the oil for heating in schools, ambulances, fire engines, and so on,” Veliu said.

However, two and a half years since the promise was made, a lack of investments in this sector has meant that neighborhoods like Tusus do not have water for hours at a time during the day.

This issue was addressed on “Life in the Municipality.”
Speaking on the show, Muja said that he does not agree that there has been no improvement in the water supply, but agreed that there are certain unresolved problems.

“We have invested in collaboration with Hidro-Region, even though it’s a regional company. Last year we invested 100,000 euros,” said Muja, pledging to resolve the water issue.

“I am guaranteeing to the citizens of Prizren that they will have enough water,” Muja said during the debate.

Another project promised by Muja which has yet to be fulfilled is the construction of the water plant in Zhuri, where construction has not yet started.

Addressing the issue, Muja shifted the responsibility to the government. “For the construction of the water plant in Zhuri, I have spoken extensively with Minister Besim Beqaj and we have been interested in implementing this project,” Muja said.

On the other side, Muja boasted about what the government has achieved in the municipality of Prizren, such as the beginning of work at the University of Prizren. Another achievement of the PDK government is healthcare offered to students, he said.

“Once we came into power in the municipality, we organized regular check-ups for the students of first, fifth and ninth grades. This project cost 7,000 euros and with this money we can offer complete healthcare for students,” Muja said.

The mayor of Prizren has been criticized for not keeping his promises for industrial zones, as well as not keeping the promise of increasing the budget of the municipality to around 160 million euros in four years. Muja is far from achieving the latter goal, as the budget of the municipality currently doesn’t exceed 30 million euros.

According to Fatmir Memaj from LDK, this promise is unattainable. Journalist Fisnik Minci also affirmed that this promise cannot be fulfilled. “The municipality has 30 million euros in its general budget, meanwhile in the previous years it has been under 30 million euros.”

This has happened in the construction of collective housing units and the purchase of an ambulance, two issues that were addressed on “Life in the Municipality.”

The office of the auditor noted that the municipality of Strpce had foreseen a budget of 500,000 euros to build a number of collective housing units, but in the end the project cost no less than 1.8 million euros.

When the municipality set aside funds for an ambulance, officials projected a cost of 500,000 euros, whereas the project actually cost around 1.6 million euros. Calculations show that the municipality has a deficit of around 2 million euros.

In response, Mayor Bratislav Nikolic said that these projects are being implemented in collaboration with the government of Kosovo and the latter is obliged to pay for the remaining part of the project cost.

Nikolic said that when he came to power, the municipality had a deficit of 1.3 million euros, and it has received funds from the government to address this issue. However, apart from debts in the municipality there are projects for which money has been paid but contracted companies haven’t started doing their work.

During “Life in the Municipality,” representatives of the opposition said that in the village of Izhance, in an effort to address a pressing issue, the municipality allocated 9,980 euros to the company Luboteni. Despite this move by municipal officials, it is not known where this money was spent because the company has yet to do any work in the village.

Nikolic said that he has no information about this, but added that all projects should have been implemented. He pledged to look into whether there have been violations in the case raised by the opposition.

However, two and a half years after his election, this promise has not been fulfilled. Mustafa, appearing on “Life in the Muncipality,” said that “the major project” has now begun.

In some parts of town, residents continue to have problems with the strong smell that comes from the sewage that goes into the Mirusha river.

During the electoral campaign, Mustafa had promised to solve this problem. On “Life in the Municipality,” he acknowledged that he had not yet fully implemented the project to clean the sewage. However, according to him, the implementation of the project is on its way.

“I didn’t say that the bad smell would be removed quickly. But, I’ve said that we will start a major project, and we have started this in some areas, and in those places where the project has been completed, there is no more a bad smell,” Mustafa said.

Apart from the stink from the sewage system in Gjlian, tenders “smell funny as well,” Mustafa’s opponents said. During the debate, a number of tenders were mentioned which were given to people close to the mayor or to officials of the municipality.

According to Arben Mehmeti from LDK, the construction of public parking spaces that the municipality of Gjilan has granted have been taken up by the husband of the assistant of the mayor, a charge Mustafa denied. According to Mustafa these parking places have been given to veterans associations, which later gave them to subcontractors.

The mayor was also asked about a tender won by the uncle of Ridvan Asllani, to whom Mustafa had indicated he was indebted in his income declarations.

In response, Mustafa said that the tender- valued at around 1.8 million euros- had nothing to do with the debt.  
“In my income declaration I did not want to lie to the public. I have mentioned every cent that I owe. The tender is not mine, they have given it through legal procedures that have been applied,” Mustafa said.

A tender of 400,000 euros was also contested. This tender was given to Mustafe Shala, who is one of the mayor’s business partners. Mustafa didn’t deny his partnership with Shala, but said the tender wasn’t related to this partnership.

“Mustafa and I are shareholders. That business has nothing to do with the institutions of Kosovo. I am telling you responsibly that the mayor of the municipality of Gjilan hasn’t had a conflict of interest,” the mayor said during the debate.

The municipality of Gjilan has paid Shala 50,000 euross for hotel services at the Hotel Kristal, which is a property owned by the businessmen.

Opponents also contested a tender won by the company ABC, where the wife of the municipality’s legal officer, Vehbi Geci, works.

The administrators of the municipality of Gjilan, meanwhile, said they are proud of their accomplishments. During Mustafa’s mandate, observers have found that a new and more efficient administration has been put in place, parks have been well maintained, collective housing units have been painted, and the construction of the city library has started.

A number of capital projects have also been launched, including 180 kilometers of road, 100 kilometers of public lighting, as well as construction plans for Gjilan.

In the newly established municipality, there are around 160 hectares of greenhouses.  Improving the situation of farmers and farm workers was one of the main electoral promises of Mayor Arif Bytyqi, however little has been done in two and a half years. The successes and shortfalls were discussed on “Life in the Municipality.”

During the electoral campaign, Bytyqi had promised an irrigation system for the fields of Mamushe, a center for preserving and selling agricultural products, as well as the repair of roads that traverse the arable lands of this municipality.

However, two-and-a-half years since he took power in the municipality, none of these promises have been kept.

During “Life in the Municipality,” Bytyqi explained that the project for the irrigation system is expensive and hasn’t been implemented because of lack of funds. However, according to him, this year the municipality will invest in a project that will ensure the irrigation of 50 hectares.

Addressing the plan to build a center for preserving and selling vegetables, Bytyqi said that this project has been implemented in Xerxee of Rahovec, with the request of farmers from Mamushe.

According to him, the municipality was awarded funds from the European Commission to build such a center, however the EC then asked the farmers and they agreed for the center to be built in Xerxëe.

The mayor has pledged to build another similar center in his municipality. Bytyqi also pledged to repair the roads that traverse the arable land during the second half of the year, explaining that the tender has just been opened.