Andric Rakic: The level of public investments is very low, populist moves in the north

Milica Andric Rakic, Program Manager of the NGO Social Initiative, stated in an interview with Kosovo Online that the level of public investments in Kosovo is very low, and that the only visible public investments in the municipality of North Mitrovica are those in homes for Albanian returnees and the announcements of the construction of police stations.

In the north, she added, there are many populist moves, such as building houses for returnees, while on the other hand, nothing is being done to provide any community, whether Albanian or Serbian, with quality services.

“The only public investments we have seen in the municipality of North Mitrovica, where investments are supposedly most visible, are either homes for Albanian returnees or announcements of the construction of police stations, like the initiative to build such a facility in the Military Repair Center. More recently, we have seen the opening of a police station in Socanica in the north. We truly do not have any visible improvements or investments in public spaces, but I must emphasize that this does not apply only to Serbian areas. In general, the level of public investments in Kosovo is very low,” said Andric Rakic.

She added that even when there are some investments related to returnee families, the rest of the infrastructure is not funded to ensure their sustainable settlement.

"There are no investments in schools in the north that provide instruction in the Albanian language, nor in healthcare infrastructure. Just a few days ago, it was reported that in the Health Center, or the Family Medicine Center, in the municipality of North Mitrovica, there is only one on-duty doctor. So, on the one hand, you have a lot of populist moves like building houses for returnees, but on the other hand, nothing is being done to ensure that any community, whether Albanian or Serbian, and regardless of which system they use, receives quality services," said Andric Rakic.

She emphasized that a six-month performance report of the government was just released, showing that the Ministry for Communities and Returns, led by the only Serbian minister in the Kosovo government, Nenad Rasic, has spent less than one percent of its budget for capital investments, the Ministry of Infrastructure around 20 percent, and the Ministry of Health below 20 percent.

"That’s the performance so far, and most of the year has already passed. The only ministry efficiently using its budget for capital investments is the Ministry of Defense. The only significant investments and purchases are for the Kosovo Security Force (KSF), while everything else in Kosovo is more or less stagnant, and there is no real discussion of infrastructural projects or public investments anywhere. The biggest infrastructural project of this government is a pedestrian bridge and a few kilometers of highway in Podujevo, which is a serious problem. In addition to the lack of foreign investments, there are not even domestic public investments, which is very damaging for businesses," Andric Rakic concluded.