With the amendments to the Constitution of Canton Sarajevo was suggested that some municipalities other than the existing four – Stari Grad, Centar, Novi Grad and Novo Sarajevo, should become part of the City of Sarajevo. At the meeting of representatives of local government was suggested that Vogosca and Hadzici could become part of the city, however, the profession believes that this would interrupt the existing urban image of the city.
Minister of Justice and Administration of Canton Sarajevo Mario Nenadic said that this is the biggest post-war constitutional and legal reform in the canton, and the ultimate goal is to find lasting and sustainable solutions when it comes to jurisdiction and relations between canton, city, and municipalities in the city of Sarajevo.
He explained that several possible solutions were presented, such as maintaining the existing organization of the city of Sarajevo to the organization of the city that would consist of six, seven, eight or even nine municipalities.
“In each of the offered variants, the jurisdiction of the city, canton, and municipalities must be agreed and clarified. The Constitution has to be changed regardless of whether four or nine municipalities will be part of the city and we are obliged to do it. There is still no unified opinion of representatives of municipal authorities regarding the most practical and best solution. One is to maintain the current situation, the second to enter the city, while the third are explicit and want to become part of the city,” said Nenadic.
He also stated that if the situation is observed by a degree of urbanization, Vogosca is one of the municipalities with the highest level of urbanization in BiH and according to these parameters, it could be part of the city of Sarajevo, but on the other hand, due to the many rural qualities it would not.
While the reforms are getting implemented first on paper and then in practice, profession stated that connecting some municipalities to the city would lead to the disruption of urban image of Sarajevo. Professor in the Department of Geography at the Faculty of Science (PMF) in Sarajevo Haris Gekic says that the city should not be further expanded since the current level of urbanization is the best.
“If that happens, there would be a lot more rural areas and agricultural land, and some municipalities are not well connected with the rest of the city. We should work on the development of infrastructure and transportation connections such as the establishment of tram tracks in the other parts of Sarajevo. There are many parts of the municipality of Vogosca, as Kobilja Glava, which can be accepted as the city of Sarajevo, however, that is not the case with the settlement Hotonj,” said Professor Gekic.
(Source: A. B./Klix.ba)
