NINKOVIĆ CALLS FOR EXTRAORDINARY CITY ASSEMBLY SESSION OVER TREE CUTTING IN BANJA LUKA

BANJA LUKA, APRIL 24 /SRNA/ – The Speaker of the Banja Luka City Assembly Ljubo Ninković told SRNA that he will launch an initiative to hold an extraordinary session of the City Assembly on the cutting of trees on the banks of the Vrbas River, in order to review the overall situation regarding the issue.

"We still need to see what actually happened in this case. We see that Mayor /Draško/ Stanivuković is accusing Vode Srpske saying they issued a permit for the cutting. After that, we had a statement from Vode Srpske which said they carried out the part of the job that falls under their responsibility, but that this has nothing to do with the removal of trees", Ninković said in the SRNA podcast. He said that the extraordinary session would include those who carried out the tree cutting, as well as representatives of the Vode Srpske Public Institution, the relevant city department, the supervising authority and Stanivuković. Ninković also stated that citizens of Banja Luka should not pay for parking, as he claims the current system is not in line with laws and decisions of competent institutions. "People should not pay for parking because the current parking fee system is completely illegal and not in line with legal acts that could stand in court in favor of the city administration. That is why I clearly say citizens should not pay for parking", Ninković stressed. Ninković claims that Stanivuković spent city budget funds unlawfully. "According to our budget execution reports, more than BAM 60 million of city budget funds were spent in an unauthorized manner. These, together with the 2024 report, are documents showing that the mayor of Banja Luka spent all that money outside the law", Ninković underlined. Commenting on Stanivuković's announcement of major capital projects in Banja Luka, such as a tram system by the end of the year, the construction of a bridge in the Dolac neighborhood, and the building of the Palas Hotel, Ninković said these are empty promises used by the mayor before every election campaign, as there is no funding for all the planned projects. Ninković also believes that requests to increase heating prices are unjustified and pointed to numerous problems in the functioning of public companies in Banja Luka. The new episode of the SRNA podcast featuring the President of the Banja Luka City Assembly Ljubo Ninković will be available tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. to users of the agency's service, as well as on social networks and the YouTube channel.