After the Kosovo government approved the decision on the reconstruction of Albanian-owned houses that were damaged in 1998-1999 in North Mitrovica in late September, as previously announced by the Kosovo Minister for Infrastructure, KoSSev learned that the works began today. The work is taking place in Brdjani, a multi-ethnic settlement in North Mitrovica.
This afternoon, we found heavy machinery, a truck and an excavator next to the narrow road in this settlement, preparing terrain or a path to these houses, which leads from Brdjani to Mali Zvecan.
At the scene, we also found members of one of the families whose house was included in the reconstruction project, who confirmed for KoSSev that work started today.
According to them, heavy machines are clearing out overgrown grass and garbage, and they hope that they will start work on their house right after.
They did not know how many houses from this neighborhood were included in the project.
At this construction site, there were no Kosovo Police vehicles because „there was no need for that,“ the KP told KoSSev.
The Kosovo Minister of Infrastructure, Liburn Aliju, who first announced the project, told the media at the end of August that the project includes 25 houses in three lots, namely, four houses will be renovated, and the rest will be built.
At the time, he did not specify where these houses were located, nor when the works would begin. The decision was approved a month later by the Kosovo government.
We were unable to learn who is carrying out the works in Brdjani, and whether it’s the local government, the municipality of North Mitrovica in charge of the project.
During the last two and a half decades, Kosovo authorities and municipal structures from South Mitrovica have tried to rebuild houses damaged and burned during the war period in Kosovo in several parts of North Mitrovica on several occasions.
In the first post-war decade, the settlement of Brdjani was one of the most heated points of tension and a scene of conflict between Serbs and Albanians.
However, the newly built part of this settlement has been inhabited by Albanians for the last decade.
For more than a decade, they have shared the part of the settlement, which leads from Brdjani to the Suvi Do settlement, with local Serbs, who moved into new buildings built with funds from Serbian institutions in Kosovo.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
