GAP and BIRN Published Reports on Problems of Peja region
01/10/2013
A few days before the official campaign period for 2013 local elections began, GAP Institute and BIRN are publishing research reports on major infrastructure problems and governance issues which municipalities of Kosovo face.
On October 1st, GAP Institute and BIRN published four reports on main problems and budget trends facing Peja, Istog, Klina and Deçan municipalities.
Bekim Salihu, manager for local governance at GAP, presented the findings of the reports, focusing on main problems which GAP has identified during field research. According to research, the main concerns of the residents of Peja Municipality are: lack of educational facilities, lack of sewage in some villages, forest cutting, lack of drinking water, the illegal exploitation of gravel from rivers, lack of medical facilities in villages of Rugova, pollution of river “Cokalica”and “Lumbardh”, narrow and demaged road from Peja – Terstenik, lack of public lightning.
Mr. Salihu also presented main problems of other municipalities which belong to Peja region. Some of the major problems in these municipalities are: lack of drinking water, pollution of air and rivers, lack of kindergarten, lack of bridges and underpasses, forest cutting, lack of development of tourism and lack of waste management.
Berat Thaqi, researcher at GAP, presented budget trends for these five municipalities based upon the Medium Term Budget Framework (MTBF) 2014 – 2016. By incorporating MRBF in the reports, GAP aims to inform citizens on the municipality budget capacity as well as the budget connection with the municipal capabilities for solving problems that citizen face.
Forent Spahia , monitor at BIRN for Peja region, unveiled BIRN plans for the election debates with mayoral candidates, who will face specific questions on how to solve the problems identified by BIRN and GAP. Mr.Spahia also invited all the citizens to address their concerns through BIRN’s portal www.kallxo.com, so they can be discussed at municipal debates, which will be aired on “Life in Kosovo” in October.
