The fact that employees in institutions in North Mitrovica and Zvecan have been protesting daily in front of the municipal building in Zvecan for almost two months now, following the forcible entry of special units of the Kosovo Police poses no obstacle to the functioning of the Municipality of North Mitrovica, which operates within the Kosovo system.
This municipality has made a series of decisions and taken concrete steps since Srpska Lista and ethnic Serb municipal employees tendered their resignations last year.
Today, they stopped the construction of at least three infrastructure facilities in North Mitrovica: a residential building in the Brdjani settlement, the new school for students of South Mitrovica schools, which nowadays are mostly attended by Roma children, which is being built near the Vojni remont site, and a new rectory building under construction downtown, within the university campus.
The news that the construction of some facilities was halted today, due to the required legal procedures reportedly not being completed, was initially announced by the mayor of North Mitrovica municipality, Erden Atic.
Atic revealed that the North Mitrovica Municipal Inspections Department visited the construction sites today where such construction had begun and cordoned off the areas to prohibit the work from continuing.
Work on these facilities will not be carried out until the legal criteria are met.
„Due to the lack of documentation, tapes were placed prohibiting the continuation of works until the legal criteria and norms of the Republic of Kosovo are met,“ said the mayor.
Empty construction sites
These construction sites in question include a residential building in the Brdjani settlement, a new school, as well as the rectory building, a KoSSev reporter confirmed from the scene.
The Kosovo Police secured the site of at least one of the facilities during the inspection carried out by the Kosovo inspection municipal bodies. At the time, construction workers were present at the sites, however, after the inspection team halted further construction, they left the construction site.
All three construction sites are still empty, covered by red and white tape. The works are not carried out, but the construction material is still visible – sand, rebar, timber, etc. There are no machines or construction workers present.
Berzati: Private investor, who was repeatedly warned to legalize construction
We attempted to obtain more information from Atic via telephone. However, a man who picked up our call, after we introduced ourselves, handed over the phone to a female person, who told us that he was busy and that he would call us later, which did not happen.
After several persistent attempts to learn more details about the matter, Fadil Berzati, the director of the infrastructure of North Mitrovica, finally told us that it was not the case of „reinventing the wheel“, but „a clear and simple procedure to stop construction for which there is no permit“.
He also confirmed that the municipal inspection authorities suspended the construction of the building and placed tape, displaying the notice only after, as he claims, they waited for half an hour for the owner to call or come to the site.
On the site in the Brdjani settlement, near the main playground, they found work in progress, workers and construction machinery, Berzati added.
The construction inspection service of the municipality of North Mitrovica stopped the works, but Berzati claims they did not get in touch with the private investor connected to this building.
Despite several persistent attempts by a KoSSev journalist for Berzati to reveal the name of the investor, he refused to do so. Although he says he knows the investor’s identity, he claims that „the procedure stipulates that he cannot make it public“, but that „we as journalists should look into it“.
Berzati also emphasizes that they contacted the owner of this residential building, however, he did not pick up.
PA: The investor is the state of Serbia
The Provisional Authority of the municipality of Kosovska Mitrovica referred us to the announcement of Srpska Lista, stressing that they want to avoid raising tensions and that they will try to resolve the situation in the coming days, which they describe as an „intentional raising of tensions by Pristina at an already sensitive moment, which they have no right to do“.
Addressing the matter of the investor, they deny that it is a private investor, stressing that it is actually „the state of Serbia“.
The funds were provided by Serbia through its relevant ministries, and the target group which these construction projects aim to help include students from schools in the southern part of Mitrovica, mostly Roma children, socially vulnerable families, and the university, the PA of Kosovska Mitrovica reveal.
What does the board in front of the rectory under construction say?
The board with general information about the investor and the project is displayed clearly in front of the rectory construction site, but not at the other two locations.
The investor is the municipality of Kosovska Mitrovica, according to the decision on the construction permit dated March 10, 2020. The responsible project designer is the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Pristina with temporary headquarters in Kosovska Mitrovica. And the contractor is „RAD 028 d.o.o. Zvecan“. The owner of this company, Radule Stević, has been on the US sanctions list since 2021.
According to the same data, the works started on August 18, 2021, and the deadline for the execution of the works is 180 days.
The works are financed by the Kosovo Office.
The beginning: (Extra)ordinary days and the cornerstone
On August 20, 2021, its acting director Petar Petkovic laid the foundation stone.
„This is no ordinary cornerstone. This is the cornerstone of Serbian harmony and unity,“ the director of the Kosovo Office said at the time.
These are not ordinary days, he prophetically announced.
We’ve been waiting for this day for 22 years, and 10,000 students and over 760 professors and teachers, as well as Kosovska Mitrovica, are expecting it, Petkovic also underlined back then.
At the time, he also said that it was a capital project worth 720 million dinars.
„There will be magnificent classrooms, offices, laboratories, amphitheaters, everything will be digital, it will be one of the most modern buildings not only here in Kosovska Mitrovica, but also in the country of Serbia,“ said Petkovic, crossing himself after laying the foundation stone at the construction site. The same construction site in downtown North Mitrovica which was closed today by the municipality of North Mitrovica, which operates within the Kosovan system.
He also expressed his desire to see the day when the new rectory building was opened.
Bonus video
Srpska Lista on Kurti
In the meantime, Srpska Lista announced that it was a residential building being built for socially vulnerable families, but also that today the work on the construction of a school for children, also from the vulnerable category, was halted.
SL appealed to international representatives to, as they say, „prevent Kurti from sowing chaos.“
They also asked „if this is Kurti’s response“ to the call of international representatives to de-escalate the situation:
„As well as whether the decision to ban the construction of schools and apartments for vulnerable citizens is in accordance with Quint ambassador’s appeals that these imposed mayors who won three percent of votes are dealing with technical and administrative matters.“
The party emphasized that this happened a day after the negotiations in Brussels, with the aim of „raising tensions and jeopardizing peace“, warning that instead of de-escalation – „escalation continues“.
To make the irony even greater, SL added, the decision to ban the construction of schools and apartments was made by “Kurti’s mayors at a time when illegal expropriation is being carried out in the north of Kosovo,” for the purposes of building police bases.
„Following the groundless arrests, beatings and intimidation of our people, today, through his mayor, he made decisions to ban the construction of schools and apartments, thus sending another message that he does not want Serbs in Kosovo,“ SL concluded.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
