Although the Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaci two days ago on his Facebook profile wrote that “one of the most important projects of the Kosovo economy is done”, whether the 410 million euros of French consortium really will be invested in Inex ski centre in Brezovica will be known only for three months, According to the municipality of Štrpce/Shtërpce.
The ski centre before the war had about 2,000 workers. Since its establishment in 1953, this company was not in a more difficult financial situation, and residents of Štrpce/Shtërpce and Kosovo, nor 178 employees, have no benefits of it.
About 80 workers of Narcis hotel, one of the hotels from the complex, did not receive salaries for 23 months, and the average income is about 10 thousand. Help coming from Serbia is not enough, says Stanojko Petkovic, manager of the Hotel.
“If there will be any privatization, all workers would prefer that it is an honest honourable privatization with specific and good social program, so that those who have preserved these objects do not leave the company miserably and without anything,” Petkovic said.
In Štrpce/Shtërpce, they say that the search for a strategic partner has not yet been completed.
“We now have 90 days in which the consortium should give a detailed plan of development and investment in the ski centre, or to describe in detail how ski lifts will be built, parking, the infrastructure of the ski centre. And most importantly, in this period of 90 days the consortium must submit documentation of the origin of money which is planned for a ski centre,” said Nikola Krstic, Deputy Mayor of Štrpce/Shtërpce.
Only after three months and submission of these documents, a working group consisting of representatives of several ministries of Kosovo, shall decide whether the consortium will be granted the concession. Mayor of Štrpce/ Shtërpce will be in the working group, with the right of veto.
At this point it is certain that the investment will not arrive in time for this winter season, which, according to the manager of Inex ski centre, Sladjan Nikolcevic should start between the 15th and 25th of December.
“We plan for this season to reconstruct two ski lifts, ski lift Velika Livada (Great Meadow) and Lavlja Vrata (Lion’s Gate). We are also working on the reconstruction of the hotel Molika. All of these funds have been provided by the Office for Kosovo and Metohija. Otherwise, it is a tender worth 18 million dinars,” says Nikolcevic.
Nikolcevic adds that the plans for the complete reconstruction of the ski centre in 2015 will be made in consultation with the Office for KiM.
The deputy mayor said that Brezovica is the most important resource and the backbone of the economy in this municipality, and that entire municipality can live from the ski centre. Therefore, the whole process may take longer, but it is important to take the decision with caution, on accepting the only offer from the French consortium.
