"To begin with, our top priority for the city will be to get all the city utilities and PEs ready for the coming fall and winter. We need to make sure our houses and apartments are warm, as well as our preschools and schools. The public transport must work, and the communal domain must be maintained in good order. With the help of the government, we must provide enough energy sources, so that we weather the winter with as little damage as possible," Belgrade Mayor Aleksandar Šapić said in his interview with Kurir.
As he pointed out, we are going though one of the toughest times in modern history.
"Unfortunately, through no fault of our own, this issue will be topmost on the agenda across the world this coming winter. In a year when all of Europe is in a recession, perhaps the deepest since World War II, when we don't know what lies ahead, when inflation is on a rampage throughout the world, and when an iron curtain far more serious than the one during the Cold War is being lifted between Russia and the West, the most important thing for the City Hall is to do everything in its power to ensure that the citizens are affected as little as possible by all this. Of course, this doesn't mean that we won't also be engaging in other important activities in the city, but this will certainly be the priority."
You mentioned heating, transport, and order in the communal domain as some of the priorities. How difficult will it be to ensure there is heating in the winter given the energy crisis that has swept over the world?
"Of course it won't be easy, and of course that by ourselves, without the help of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the authority of the head of state, we cannot ensure that. The issue of energy sources will be resolved at the national level, and we must do everything we can for the city's system to be ready to respond to the greatest challenges."
How do you improve the city's public transportation?
"That is a million-dollar question and, unfortunately, it turns out that no one has managed to solve this problem for decades. In order to improve the city public transport, people using it must pay for the tickets, and for everyone to pay the tickets, you must have a better public transport. And that's where you are faced with that philosophical question of which came first – the chicken or the egg. And you go around in circles. In Belgrade, even though the public transportation system can and should be better, there's also that decades-old habit of not paying for the tickets. This isn't the case in Novi Sad, for example, which has never had this problem, not even in the 1990s. Enormous funds go into subsidies to cover the loss incurred in this way, and that still comes out of the citizens' pockets. Instead of being used for different purposes, the funds go into patching up the public transport. We'll see if I manage to do something about it. I won't announce or promise anything, because that is a topic that everyone's used, and nothing's ever come of it. I'll give it a shot, and let's just see what happens. It's better to give people a nice surprise than to make empty announcements."
You have brought up the topic of reducing air pollution in Belgrade. What should be done about that?
"To start with, raising people's living standards, because in that way they would buy new cars with environmentally friendly engines rather than Euro 2 and Euro 3 ones, which are banned in Europe and are still found in 75 percent of our citizens' cars. Another way is to reduce the number of individual heating systems, of which there are about 150,000 in Belgrade. If we brought these two items down, the air would be much cleaner."
Will Belgrade be getting new preschools and schools?
"Of course it will, based on its needs. Unfortunately, the number of schools we need is going down because we have fewer and fewer children. However, as the city develops, there are parts of it where there is no school, but there is a need for one. On the other hand, there are buildings which used to be schools and need to be repurposed now, because there are no more students there. As for preschools, they will also be constructed based on the city's needs. There, the needs seem to be slightly greater, but the problem has been significantly alleviated in recent years by opening the city preschool system to private ownership, which provides equal services for the same price as state-owned preschools. Just a few years on, and we're seeing the number of children going to preschools almost double. Whoever came up with this system brought about a revolution."
Ready to listen
'I will consider good suggestions from the opposition'
Will you be taking into account constructive criticism and suggestions coming from the political opposition?
"Of course. I made a point of saying that in my first speech as Mayor. Each suggestion that is feasible and useful for the citizens of Belgrade, regardless of who it comes from, will be accepted."
In your opinion, what are the most important infrastructural projects in Belgrade?
"Certainly the Metro, the Belgrade Bypass, the construction of the sewage system, building tunnels, bridges, and parks, as well as sports grounds and new boulevards."
Could the crisis slow down the construction of the Metro?
"It could indeed, but I hope it won't. The Metro isn't just a City Hall project, but a state project as well. As a project, it has national significance, and we must all be involved in it – from the head of state to the local authorities."
You said that your door is open to everyone. How do you plan to communicate with the citizens?
"We will try to create systemic solutions for communicating with the citizens. The sort of thing that's been in place for years in the Novi Beograd Municipality, except that the latter is much smaller in scale compared to the city-wide equivalent. This means abolishing all city service numbers – the telephone lines of all services and PEs – and introducing a single city telephone number to cover all the needs of the citizens of Belgrade. A number that would enable them to get whatever information they need, as well as provide a suggestion or a proposal. Furthermore, an entirely new City Hall website is under construction, which will put everything going on in Belgrade together in a single place and allow the citizens to track whatever events in their city interest them in real time. Ranging from construction works and closing off streets to the cultural life and everything Belgrade can offer."
Who will advise you in running the city?
"Everyone with enough knowledge, experience, and – needless to say – good will to help their city."
The Progressive Party is in a coalition with the Socialist Party in Belgrade. Can this collaboration be expected to expand to the state level as well?
"I honestly don't know."
The general public was surprised by the claims made by the former state secretary at the Ministry of Interior, Dijana Hrkalović, who accused Nebojša Stefanović of wiretapping President Vučić and protecting Veljko Belivuk's criminal gang. How do you comment on these allegations? Do you expect this scandal to be resolved?
"I do."
Ivana Žigić
