The inspection department of the North Mitrovica municipality suspended the construction of another building today. The Kosovo Police, however, provided assistance to municipal authorities in at least five locations throughout town, but until this news was published, we were unable to obtain any further details from the municipality regarding today’s events.
The construction of a multi-story building on Vlade Cetkovica Street was suspended.
During the day, red and white tape was placed around the building, and all work halted. Veton Elshani, the Deputy Commander for the region north, confirmed for KoSSev that the municipal inspector was accompanied by the Kosovo Police.
Elshani underlined that the Kosovo Police provided assistance to municipal inspectors at a total of five locations that had been previously requested. However, he could not specify the exact locations or the facilities in question, nor what exactly the inspectors did.
We were unsuccessful in obtaining details from municipal authorities regarding today’s events, despite several attempts throughout the day.
Mayor Erden Atic, Director of Infrastructure of North Mitrovica Fatir Berzati, and former mayor and Srpska Lista chief Goran Rakic did not answer our calls and messages.
Rakic, a former high-ranking official in the Kosovo institutions for years, declared the 9.5-acre plot of land on which this unfinished multi-story building is allegedly located as a family property worth 350,000 euros. In late October of last year, Rakic was called out because of this by political activists of the civic initiative “Srpski Opstanak” Aleksandar Arsenijevic and Stefan Veljkovic.
Rakic did not react on that occasion, but locals continue referring to the building under construction as ‘Rakic’s building.
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In front of this building, however, there is no panel with information about the investor, contractors, type of work and deadlines, as foreseen by the basic procedures. Some construction equipment and light machinery is still present at the site.
Last week, namely, on July 20th, the construction of at least three infrastructure facilities in North Mitrovica was halted: a residential building in the Brdjani settlement, a new school for students in schools inSouth Mitrovica, which now are mostly attended by Roma children and is being built near the Vojni remont site, and a new rectory building under construction downtown, within the university campus.
At the time, Erden Atic reacted on Facebook, notifying the public that the construction was stopped due to non-compliance with legal procedures.
Work on these facilities will not be carried out until the legal criteria are met.
„Due to the lack of documentation, tape was placed prohibiting the continuation of works until the legal criteria and norms of the Republic of Kosovo are met,“ said the mayor last week. Srpska Lista party reacted, criticizing the decision.
By the time this news was published, there have been no official announcements or reactions from either side, despite our persistent calls to officials regarding the North Mitrovica municipality’s latest actions.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
