The construction of dozens of illegal buildings is underway in the municipality of Gracanica. Although the municipality admits that there are buildings that are being constructed illegally, work is nevertheless still ongoing. The same cannot be said for the municipality of North Mitrovica.
Several media outlets, political groups and residents have been pointing to the problem of illegal construction in Gracanica since May.
The Serbian National Forum claims that 50 such houses are under construction in Caglavica alone.
„Who issued construction permits to an Albanian company for the construction of a new settlement in Caglavica, for 50 houses, or if the houses were built without a construction permit, why was the construction not stopped, while the houses have already been put to use?“ – announced the SNF in a statement issued earlier this month.
Following the Serbian National Forum’s reaction, harsh accusations came from the municipality, followed by a heated exchange of words from the SNF.
However, the municipality confirmed that ten buildings are being built without a permit.
„Our municipal authorities and expert services archived dozens of illegal constructions on the territory of our municipality and processed them further to the competent authorities“ – they stated in one of the exchanges of statements with the SNF.
Kapetanović: 90% of newly built buildings have a permit, 10% are under the inspection procedure
KoSSev asked the new director of the Inspection Department at the Gracanica municipality, Aleksandar Kapetanović, about the way in which this municipality treated what it deemed to be illegal construction.
„All facilities that illegally started construction were processed in the following way: ascertaining the situation on the ground with an order to start the procedure of obtaining a building permit and the immediate suspension of all activities,“ he wrote in a written response to KoSSev last week.
He claims that a certain number of facilities have complied with the suspension order, and that in the meantime they have initiated procedures to acquire a permit.
The investors of the buildings that were served with the demolition decision filed a complaint with the First Instance Municipal Commission, Kapetanović also stated, without revealing the exact number of these buildings.
After receiving the decision from the Commission, he says, „further procedure“ is carried out.
Kapetanović indirectly confirmed that illegal works continue.
When it comes to buildings for which the suspension of works has not been respected, they are processed in the following way: „mandated fine, installation of tape, initiation of proceedings before the competent court and issuance of a decision on demolition“ – he added.
However, Kapetanović says that about 90% of newly built buildings on the territory of the municipality of Gracanica have a building permit, issued by the Department for Urban Planning and Environmental Protection, while the remaining 10% are under inspection procedure.
„The remaining 10% is in the inspection procedure, depending on the type of violation,“ stated Kapetanović, once again without specifying exactly how many buildings are involved.
He also emphasized that the municipal inspection „checked“ all the buildings whose construction began on the territory of this municipality during 2023.
On the plot in Caglavica: We have suspended the works, we are monitoring the situation
Without providing other details, this municipal official said that, when it comes to works carried out on the „plot in Caglavica“, the municipal inspection with the assistance of the police stopped anyfurther construction.
„The inspector gave an order to stop the work immediately,“ he said.
Kapetanović specifies that the situation on the ground is monitored daily, and that no further works were carried out after the order was issued.
„The case was forwarded to the Ministry of Infrastructure because the plot is managed as P.SH. RRUGE D.S. PUTEVI and as such is under the jurisdiction of the mentioned ministry. In the event that further works are continued, the procedure will be continued, which entails a fine and the initiation of a misdemeanor proceeding,“ he specified in his answer to KoSSev.
Stojanović: The municipality is not stopping construction, it is just simulating that it is doing its job
However, the former mayor of this municipality, Branimir Stojanović, has a differing experience when it comes to this issue.
Recently, alongside his future party colleague from the North, the leader of the „Za Zubin Potok“ Civic Initiative, Milija Biševac, in front of the municipality of Gracanica, he symbolically presented the Mayor Ljiljana Šubarić with a „shut down work tape“, Caglavica Media Center reported.
The essence of the problem in Gracanica related to illegal construction is that the municipality is simulating that it is doing work – claims the former mayor of Gracanica.
„Actually, they are just hiding behind certain procedures that they formally implement, but essentially do not stop construction,“ he told KoSSev.
What happens on the ground is that the municipality initiates procedures, compiles minutes, and further processes through the complaint committee in the municipality, but the actual construction does not stop, he alleged.
„Inspectors do not put up a tape prohibiting construction, nor do they report illegal builders to the police if the contractors remove the tape and continue construction. Although, I did not see that they suspended the work anywhere.“
Stojanović points to the mechanisms available to the municipality, which it does not use.
„What is happening in the municipality of Gracanica is just a simulation and avoidance of responsibility and obligations and hiding behind procedures instead of doing their job,“ he repeated, noting that they can stop this construction in a „very direct and efficient“ way.
Although it is a longer process, stopping illegal construction is simple when the municipality has the desire and will to prevent such works.
Facilities are not demolished, and everything gets more complicated when the works are finished
On September 1, the new „Law on Treatment of Buildings without a Permit“ entered into force. It practically extends the deadline for the legalization of illegally built buildings in Kosovo until December 31, 2025.
When asked if he sees a connection between the extension of the deadline for the legalization of illegally built buildings and what is currently happening in the municipality of Gracanica, Stojanović believes that those who build buildings illegally surely have in mind how they would eventually legalize them.
Pointing out that he has not yet witnessed the demolition of buildings, he emphasizes that it is a „difficult act“, and that as such it usually exceeds the authority of the local self-government.
„Everything is more complicated when the facilities are built. Once a building is finished, it is the point when the authority of the municipality stops, and those who build illegally, they count on that. First of all, they expect that, if not in this round, they expect the opportunity to legalize the facilities in the next five years.“
„We know that until now there has been no demolition of illegally built buildings, especially not in Serbian municipalities, because it has always been relatively acceptable in the central institutions and they will not demolish those buildings,“ says Stojanović.
Construction is carried out directly against the urban plan and endangers the ethnic structure
Stojanović remarked that only that municipality can have precise data on the number of illegal buildings being built on the territory of the municipality of Gracanica, and that they are primarily built in settlements adjacent to the highway Gracanica-Gnjilane.
It is private property with one exception, but the problem with this illegal construction is that it is land that is outside the construction zone.
He alleged that the construction is not carried out in the zones intended for it, and that in plots intended for construction of business premises, more than a dozen houses were constructed, thus “going against the urban planning and endangering ethnic structure of the area.”
Stojanović claims that the facility is being built illegally on hemunicipality’s plot and that it is particularly problematic that the municipality has not stopped work on this plot either.
Last night, Radio Kim reported that in Caglavica, the construction of foundation on the municipal land had started again, and that the municipal authorities, together with the police, also stopped the works last night. In fact, these works started about two months ago, when the same authorities also stopped the works and removed the machines from the site.
Stojanović, finally indicates that the key problem is that illegal construction is not cut at the root.
„When the first few obvious cases are not prevented, then others are encouraged to do the same. If it is not shown now that illegalconstruction is not allowed, then others, of which there are certainly many, who cannot build legally, will be encouraged to do the same,“ Stojanović told KoSSev.
A completely different situation in the north
At the same time, a different method is applied in the north. The current local government in North Mitrovica, at the very beginning of its mandate, showed that they are significantly more motivated to cut down any illegal construction, even with buildings whose construction has is more than halfway done.
Despite the crisis in the North, the boycott of the elections, and the assessment that the new government in North Mitrovica is an illegitimate one, due to the fact that, despite it being a majority Serb area, is de facto led by the Albanian leadership, works on about a dozen large residential buildings was suspended in just a few days.
The long-awaited university building, a school building for several educational institutions south of the Ibar that moved to the north after 1999, and several residential buildings formerly owned by private investors – these are just some of the buildings whose construction was suspended by the new inspection authorities.
In the meantime, work on one site was continued secretly, only for the Kosovo police to bring one person in for questioning and stop the works again.
Giving away plots and disproportionate exchanges
The issue of illegal construction is not anything new. It is actually one of the key problems in Kosovo, including Gracanica itself.
A year ago, this municipality adopted the Decision on the exchange of municipal immovable property, according to which the Municipality exchanges, that is, gives to Rexha Shoshi almost 17 hectares of land, as the Caglavica Media Center reported at the time, while Shoshi, in turn, cedes to the municipality of Gracanica hisprivate road with an area of approximately 18 acres.
However, the mayor Ljiljana Šubarić denied the same allegations, indicating that the municipality „received“ 18 acres of land in the category of road infrastructure, which contain an „important strategic local road within the residential zone“, and that, on the other hand, as compensation to the owner of that infrastructural land, a proportional part of the municipal land on the outskirts of Gracanica was offered, but „not 17 hectares as it was wrongly reported by the media“.
This decision was canceled soon after its adoption, as it was interpreted unofficially – due to public and media pressure. KoSSev unofficially learned that there is an ongoing procedure in which R.Sh. is seeking compensation for damages.
Years back, there were other similar cases reported in the same municipality.
The construction of the elite settlement „Marigona“ near Pristina, which is spread over 595 plots, with a total area of 795,136 square meters in the territory of the municipality of Gracanica, was also followed by accusations that it was built illegally.
Although its construction began even before the formation of the municipality of Gracanica itself, more than 10 years ago, several actors pointed to the responsibility of the first municipal government in preventing it.
„It is unequivocal that the first municipal government, SLS was in power at the time, also kept quiet about the construction of that settlement in a similar way,“ said Branimir Stojanović.
A few years later, while Srpska Lista was in power in this municipality, and at the proposal of the municipal authorities, the assembly adopted a proposal on the mutual arrangement of cadastral lines between the municipalities of Gracanica and Kosovo Polje, in the cadastral zones of Preoce and Ugljare in 2018. In practice, this meant that the municipality itself decided to practically donate the entire plot to another municipality.
This decision was also not implemented, due to legal obstacles as well as public pressure.
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