The citizens of Banjaluka paid more than half a million KM for the reconstruction of the old bridge in Trapisti, which is almost four times more than originally planned, Capital.ba announced.
The mentioned portal states that this entails the question of the justification of the investment in a part of the city where the basic infrastructural problems have not been solved, such as poor road infrastructure, a complete lack of sewage network, and problems with flooding during every heavy rain.
The original budget for the reconstruction of the bridge in January last year was 128,205 KM excluding VAT (149,999 KM), but that sum was not enough to attract builders who would take up the work.
In order to attract construction companies, but also due to the increase in the price of construction materials, the budget was significantly increased and in August of last year it amounted to 417,695 KM without VAT (488,703 KM).
The works started in September 2022, but almost half a million KM seems not to have been enough to complete everything that the city government had imagined, it says. Capital.
Thus, in February of this year, another 68,641 KM without VAT (80,309 KM) was approved by tender for the performance of additional and unforeseen works for the reconstruction of the bridge in the Trapisti settlement. If we take into account the figures for the reconstruction of the bridge, which can only be used for the passage of pedestrians, 569,012 KM were spent.
Investments in this area did not stop there. Recently, another public procurement was announced for the one-story area around the bridge in Trapisti. The value of the purchase is 62,076 KM without VAT (72,628 KM) and the tender will be open until May 26. If this public procurement is successful, the entire project will consume about 641,640 KM.
It is a project whose implementation is advocated by the current administration with the explanation that their intention is to give the Trapisti settlement a new look and become a tourist destination.
The problem is that only the restoration of the bridge is not enough for such a thing, the surroundings are not adapted for visiting tourists or for the arrival of citizens on excursions because there is no organized picnic area or promenade along the Vrbas river.
Member of the Committee for Monitoring the Implementation of Adopted Programs, Plans and Projects in the Field of Communal and Traffic Infrastructure Saša Čudić says that he has nothing against bridges, but that he is against unnecessary investment in something that has no benefit.
“I’m in principle for bridges, because they connect, but I’m not for bridges that are technically unstable and unattractive to tourists and in which half a million KM should be invested to the detriment of many other priorities in Banja Luka. We should spend money where it is realistic and justified.” said Čudić and noted that only 50 to 60 meters from the mentioned bridge there is a new bridge connecting the two banks of Vrbas.
“I would like to see who is the tourist who will come to that bridge to experience his tourist satisfaction in Banja Luka. I think it is an unnecessary story and one of a series of demagogic platitudes. I think the city would have earned more if it had sold that bridge for old steel rather than building a certain attraction on it, because it has no touristic, technical, or real value. I don’t see the justification for those investments,” Čudić concluded.