The Prime Minister of the Sarajevo Canton, Nihad Uk, pointed out that citizens must be offered good public transport, in order to reduce traffic and increase the number of pedestrian zones. He announced that two Sarajevo municipalities will be heated with heat pumps.
As announced by the Sarajevo Canton Government, Uk attended the CIVINET forum in Sarajevo today called “On the way to climate neutral cities”. The organizer is the Secretariat of the network CIVINET Slovenia – Croatia – Southeast Europe in cooperation with the Canton of Sarajevo and the City of Sarajevo.
The forum is an opportunity, as they pointed out, for active participation, transfer of knowledge and good practices, and information on European policies and projects important for sustainable urban mobility and climate neutrality, as well as relevant projects in that area carried out by members of this network.
Uk stated that in Bosnia and Herzegovina, that is, Sarajevo Canton, not much work was done on this issue for decades, but that in the past few years, more active work has begun on the energy transition. In this context, he mentioned the projects being carried out in Sarajevo Canton, among which he emphasized large infrastructure projects in traffic, that is, public transport.
“Our idea is that after the investment cycle, which is in its final phase, 75 percent of public transport in Sarajevo Canton will be electrically powered. We have reconstructed the tram network from Ilidža to Skenderija, bought new trolleybuses, ordered new trams, the first of which will arrive at the end of this year. year, and the others in the following. We have also started the construction of the tram line towards Hrasnica, we are returning the trolleybuses towards Vogošća”, pointed out Uk.
As he said, citizens must be offered good public transport, in order to reduce traffic in the future and increase the number of pedestrian zones. Speaking about projects that are interesting from the perspective of this forum, he stated that the Sarajevo Canton Government is also actively working on the energy hub project in Butile. As envisioned, the waste water treatment plant should, thanks to by-product and waste processing technologies, produce energy to heat a large part of Sarajevo.
“We want to install heat pumps in that area that will supply the two municipalities of Novi Grad and Novo Sarajevo with heating. On the one hand, we will have an acceptable energy source, and on the other hand, we will reduce our dependence on Russian gas. We should start this investment cycle in the coming period,” he announced.
He noted that Sarajevo is one of 100 European cities that are part of the “Net Zero Cities” Mission, i.e. one of the cities that aspire to be carbon neutral by 2030.
“I am aware that we will probably not reach that goal by 2030, but we have big plans and we must do everything to meet the deadlines we have committed to as soon as possible. In the next six months, we will receive an action plan, with the support of the Delegation of the European Union, and then European funds are opened to us for the realization of our mission, in order to speed up the process, to make up for what, for example, Zagreb and Ljubljana have achieved,” emphasized Uk.
He believes that these topics arouse the great interest of young people and the scientific community, and he expressed his satisfaction that the students of the Economics and other faculties will in the future carry out the processes of the carbon neutral Sarajevo Canton.
The Government of Sarajevo Canton reminded that the European Union has committed itself that Europe will become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. In order to become that, it is important to make cities climate neutral. As the organizers of the Forum said, on the way to that, local authorities are crucial. They must actively work on the transition of the transport system due to its far-reaching impact on the environment and climate, Klix.ba reports.
