Banja Luka will get another monument in September. On the initiative of the mayor Draško Stanivuković, a monument to Prince Lazar, whose value is estimated at almost two million marks, will be erected in the Budžak-Lazarevo settlement.
This is the third monument that the city administration is erecting in Banja Luka, and there are open questions on the basis of which the decision was made and from which means it was financed.
While citizens are waiting for the rehabilitation of the water supply network, the collectors on Vrbas and the patching of potholes on city roads, there is money for another monument. The city administration, led by Stanivuković, allocated 1.7 million marks for the monument to Prince Lazar.
It is not known, however, on the basis of which decision the monument was erected, as well as from which funds it was paid for. Portal Kapital previously announced that the monument was built first, and that a public tender was announced only after that.
The decision is not visible in the budget
The President of the Banjaluka City Assembly, Ljubo Ninković, warns that no special item for the construction of the monument was found in the budget.
“In the budget, during the preparation at the end of last year, we did not see at all that there was a position called the construction of monuments, nor when changing the regulatory plans. So there is no technical documentation to legalize the works, nor is there any money that we saw. This is neither the first nor the last time that the mayor, as economists would say, tries to hide that money in the budget,” said Ninković.
The opposition demands explanations
The opposition warns that, instead of priority matters, the city government spends citizens’ money on unnecessary populist projects before the elections.
“We were told that these funds were provided by the budget. However, I was looking for a specific item in the budget with that amount and I really didn’t find it. I really don’t know if they combined it with several items,” said Dijana Ješić, member of the People’s Front in the Banjaluk City Assembly.
The monument arrives from Subotica
The monument was made in Subotica, and it is expected to be transferred to Banjaluka soon. On the roundabout, where it is planned to be installed, preparatory works are in progress.
The City Administration of Banjal Luka did not respond to questions regarding the decisions on the basis of which the monument was erected, as well as the way in which its construction was financed.
The monument to Prince Lazar will be eight meters high. Its construction and installation cost 1.7 million marks.
