Ginny: As a municipality we haven't had any support from the government

Despite the challenges, however, the first of Gjakova points out that in 2022 they have managed to complete it with record records.

“Viti 2022 has been with more challenges than other years, we have the strait behind us and yet we have closed it beyond the average in Kosovo, it's a good closure and municipal income we have record in percentages, we're the best in Kosovo. We're softer than the other years, we're not at 90-95%, since we've been, but we're still beyond average we're about 78%. There are projects that have not been completed, there are various reasons, some have been delays in budget implementation, in April we have the budget operational not because of us, so 1/3 of the year has already been lost without procedures, but a large portion of the procedures have been carried out, I am hoping that next year we would have been much better“, he stressed.

Gjakova Mayor Ardian Gjini criticises the Government of Kosovo and has a message for them.

We don't have any support that could be highlighted, but I had formulated this issue a little differently for all of Kosovo. National and local governments are interconnected because we're in one country and in one state, we have connections. The national government makes decisions that affect all of Kosovo, and are usually measured by the mandate until the end of the mandate, and if during a government other institutions, independent institutions, but also municipalities perform better, it is a success of the government as well as the decisions it has made, but if a government makes decisions after those reform decisions of other institutions, even municipalities decline, then it is also written to the government, not just to the municipalities. We have our jobs and we do them, but we are interdependent and this is my message to the Government of Kosovo... Each citizen of Kosovo lives in a municipality, there are no citizens who live in government and others in municipalities, even those in a municipality live. The performance of municipalities should be the focus of each government, regardless of who is in power because it is written as a success if all perform the best“, Djind says.

Djind in an interview for Kosova Prees, added that with the budget for 2023, they have not received support from the central executive for any new project for the Gjakova municipality.

But, he adds, despite this budget for the municipality for 2023, it will be fantastic with a total of 16m euros, only for capital investments.

The municipality budget for 2023 will be fantastic. For me too important is capital investments because they remain as assets, goods and services, those are the means spent and nobody sees them. In capital investments we'll have an absolute record in percentages and lots. The bloodbath, which has been in the range of 3 million of its investments, will have approximately 16 million final budgets that are a tremendous thing... we have exceeded 24 %s of our planning, even though municipalities don't raise taxes, we don't have the right to raise taxes, we receive taxes on property and other taxes that we still have record and it's very good news. While, for new projects by the Government of Kosovo we do not have, it is not pre-priced, I hope that what has been started will be financed. We have some very important projects that need to be financed, some are big for the long term, and some that we have very important for soon as the bridge is over the Drin River, in the village of Rogova, it is very important to be done quickly, we have good indicators on that project for the Government of Kosovo, we need to see what's going on”, Djind said.

Djind maintains also how local power during the past year has developed important projects for citizens of this municipality.

But he also listed the main challenges they faced.

And we've been working a lot this year on public lighting, there's still been a lot of work in villages, there's still been a lot of work, there's still going on, there's still work in the villages, there's still a lot of work, but now we're seeing the change, we've been following a public lighting network expansion project and we're walking, we've still been working on the streets and sports grounds, we've opened three nests, we've got lots of projects, but we've got some price increases, the budget delayed, until the summer board of OP. There are difficulties, which seem to have been like the” strait in 2023, said the chairman of Gjakova.

On the other hand, the first of the bloodbaths has made numerous infrastructure plans for 2023.

“Very large projects and there are exits for Pec, which will continue with the next phase immediately, the first phase is projected and we'll cure the next phase is a million project. It's the X Street, which is the largest project ever to finance the Gjakova municipality, is 4.5m euros. The X Street connects Skivian with Chereim, it's an external circuit, we'll start with the second and third phase of the Gjakova stadium, we'll continue with the Crena and Luqac River, all of these are big municipal investments, we'll continue with public enlightenment with the completion of road infrastructure in villages and cities, we have some roads that should be completed, and we're budgeted”, he said.

The Gjakova municipality has been flooded over the past year several times, but the mayor of this town, Ardian Gjini, claims that so far there is no decision on compensation for damages, which amount to over 1 million and a half.