prijava
SARAJEVO, May 30 (FENA) - The Operational Task Force for migration issues in BiH, at today’s meeting in Sarajevo, attended also by representatives of the Una-Sana Canton, discussed the possibility of relocating the migrants from two reception centers in urban areas - "Bira" in Bihać and "Miral" in Velika Kladuša, and accepted the proposal of the City Council of Bihać to relocate migrants to a new location in the settlement of Vučijak.
After the meeting, Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dragan Mektić told reporters that, according to the previous agreement, the City Council of Bihać decided on a new location - the settlement of Vučijak, which has enough room, but which should be prepared and adjusted to serve as this new reception center.
“We made a conclusion, accepted the proposal of the Bihać City Council, in addition that the City Administration of Bihać is to provide a couple of answers to additional questions about what can be provided in terms of infrastructure,” said Mektić.
He added that he would then forward such a decision to the European Commission, which, in his opinion, "should and has to fund this project".
Speaking about the necessary financial resources, he said that at first, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) offered a provisional cost amount to which he has already expressed his reserve, given that the set standards are something new to him, that 30 to 35 square meters have to be secured per migrant.
“According to their estimate, the cost is about 19 million KM, but I think that such a financial assessment should be audited and that the costs could be much lower,” says Mektić.
A member of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and a member of the Una-Sana Canton delegation, Jasmin Emrić told reporters that the Vučijak location was accepted and that in the course of next five days, they will present an action plan on how to prepare and setup the location for the reception of migrants.
He says that all of them were surprised with the estimate of total cost by the IOM, adding that it seems to be too high.
“It is probably the figure that is reached under some of these humanitarian standards. However, this is about a temporary reception center that needs to be urgently established and this amount can be significantly smaller. It seems to me that they are reluctant to accept that we have chosen this new location and they are searching for excuses for the things to remain as they are. However, this situation is unacceptable for the Una-Sana Canton. These were temporary reception centers that were set up because of winter conditions - "Bira" in Bihać and "Miral" in Velika Kladuša,” stressed Emrić.
“It seems to me that IOM has overestimated those expenses so that we perhaps give up on our intent. However, this has to be done; migrants must be placed in a location that will not disrupt the daily life of citizens in Bihać, Velika Kladusa, and the entire Una-Sana Canton,” emphasized Emrić.
He believes that this is a problem of the state and not only the problem of the City of Bihać and the Mayor Fazlić. He adds that the state must support the USC to finally begin to manage the migrant crisis in a way that it is more acceptable for USC citizens.
Emrić notes that all migrants come to the USC in order to wait to cross the border to the EU, that is, the border with the Republic of Croatia.
The Mayor of Bihać, Šuhret Fazlić, told reporters he was pleased to hear that the Operational Task Force supported the proposed location and "that the Operational Task Force is finally taking on the job that it needs to do, which is to deal with the migrant crisis."
Asked about the current estimate on the number of migrants present in USC, he said that there are some three to four thousand of them.
The Bihać City Council unanimously determined the Vučjak settlement as the location to relocate migrants and refugees from the center of Bihać in early May. It is a suburban settlement, near the border with the Republic of Croatia.
(FENA) S. R.
