On May 12, 2021, the Sarajevo Canton Government (NS, NiP and SDP) annulled the Decision on temporary measures for the protection of ventilation corridors and thus opened the door for the continuation of making more concrete surfaces in Sarajevo, which was started by the SDA.
The move was carefully timed – the day before Eid, and at a time when the public is preoccupied with the Palestinian tragedy in Gaza – to go unnoticed, as it directly opposes the programs and promises of Troika members, according to Eko akcija.
The Sarajevo Canton Government made the mentioned decision last year, based on the Study on urban ventilation corridors and the impact of high-rise building construction on air quality and climate in the city. The study was made as part of the Green Cantonal Action Plan, and within the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) program “Green Cities”.
The British company Atkins worked on the study and determined that tall buildings can contribute to air pollution. In the narrow Sarajevo valley, additional high-rise buildings prevent the flow of air that disperses air pollution.
Eko akcija reminds that the City of Sarajevo administration came to the same conclusion back in 1990, when the still valid Urban Plan for the urban area of Sarajevo was adopted. This plan, with which all lower-level plans (e.g., municipal) must be harmonized, prohibits further high-rise building construction. Despite that, Sarajevo has been congested with new construction for the past three decades, mostly of medium and high storeys buildings.
An additional problem of frantic construction is covering free spaces and green areas in a city with concrete. At the same time, the 2013 census determined that every fourth apartment in Sarajevo is empty, which shows that further construction is unnecessary in terms of general, public interest. The decision to de facto intensify it goes exclusively to real estate clans and speculators, and the population will suffer long-term consequences.
Was the Decision revoked on the grounds of unconstitutionality?
On April 21 the Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina ruled that the decision on temporary measures to protect ventilation corridors (determined by the Study on Urban Ventilation Corridors and the Impact of high storeys buildings) did not violate Novi Grad’s right to local self-government. In other words, the Cantonal Government (in the previous convocation) had full legal authority to make that decision.
The verdict was published in the Official Gazette on May 7, 2021.
The current government is aware of the verdict, and still annulled the decision on May 12, along with a public disinformation campaign conducted by the competent minister Enver Hadžiahmetović and his party leader Elmedin Konaković. We quote the statements: “no law can be made ad acta by some government decision”; “This has created an opportunity for investors to sue the authorities,” (Klix portal, May 12). “Let’s not make Sarajevo a twilight zone for investors, let’s not drive away investors by creating this kind of legal uncertainty,” it was stated on E. Konaković’s public FB profile on May 13.
Why did the government rush to repeal the decision just two months before it expired?
If there were no legal reasons for revoking the decision, what made the Cantonal Government withdraw such a move, representatives of the Eko akcija ask? In a statement to Klix, Minister Hadžiahmetović mentioned the interests of investors four times.
In the spirit of the promise of complete transparency, that was promised many times by the highest circles of the Troika parties, Eko akcija calls on the Minister to publicly present the names of those investors whose earnings are more important than clean air in Sarajevo.
Minister Hadžiahmetović announces that the complete study will be integrated into the new Urban Plan – which the City Administration is responsible for adoption, and not the Minister. Otherwise, the new version of the Plan, contrary to legal provisions, is still kept in strict secrecy. Adoption alone can take years, which construction clans will no doubt know how to take advantage of.
Why there were no public consultations?
For who knows how many times, the Government and the Assembly of the Canton, led by the Troika, before that the Six-Year Plan, make decisions that are extremely important for our environment without any public debates/consultations, despite intensive advertising of their own transparency.
What awaits us?
Thanks to this maneuver of the Troika (NiP, NS, SDP) in the coming years new tycoon skyscrapers – Skenderija, Marindvor, Pofalići, Strojorad, near RTV Dom, etc. will be built. Long winter months with polluted air await us, less and less green areas, additional traffic jams, additional problems with already problematic parking, warns Eko akcija.
For a government that presented itself as an alternative to previous politics and that emphasized its commitment to solutions based on opinions of professionals and science, the Troika is proving to be a worthy successor of the government that ruled the previous three decades to the detriment of the city and its people.
