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Reconstruction Aid Barely Dents Bosnia's Problems
By Kurt Schork
SARAJEVO, May 21 (Reuters) — Sarajevo looks better with war debris bulldozed away and new shops and cafes opening, but the billions in reconstruction aid pledged to Bosnia are a pittance compared to its needs, officials said on Tuesday. “The change in Sarajevo, psychologically and physically, since the peace agreement was signed has been remarkable,” said a U.N. official who asked not to be named.
“But this is Bosnia's capital and the city has a certain economic viability of its own. The $5.1 billion pledged in reconstruction aid is nothing compared to the whole country's needs, especially in the countryside.”
The official added: “Even here in Sarajevo the actual physical reconstruction which the funds will support is very limited. Lots of housing and factories are damaged beyond repair. “Even if the peace holds, the war will be a burden for a generation.”
Consider the front-line Sarajevo neighborhood of Hotonj which had 850 houses and apartmnents, and about 4,100 residents before the Bosnian war began in April 1992. About 70 per cent of its people were Muslims. The rest were mostly Serbs, with a few Croats. Now Hotonj is a deserted wasteland of narrow, weed-choked lanes and gutted homes, most without roofs, doors or windows.
As part of the international community's $5.1 billion reconstruction commitment to Bosnia, the U.S. Agency for International Develpment (USAID) is funding the basic rehabilitation of 70 homes in Hotonj in 1996. “The average cost per unit is between 7,000 and 10,000 deutschemarks ($5,000 and $7,000),” said Kasey Vannett of Catholic Relief Services, the conduit for USAID funding in Hotonj.
“The idea is to make the units weathertight, with roofs and doors and windows, and completely finish one to two rooms in each house or flat. We've selected units with extensive damage which are reparable. The project should be finished by October 15.”
Hotonj is just one of 50 sites across Bosnia targeted by a $25 million USAID emergency-shelter repair project, which is intended to enable 2,500 families displaced by war to return to their homes in 1996. Even taken in conjunction with the other $1.8 billion in reconstruction assistance pledged for this year by the international community, it is a meagre downpayment on Bosnia's post-war future.
USAID and the World Bank estimate three million Bosnians were displaced from their homes by the war — nearly
three-quarters of the country's population. Hundreds of thousands of homes have been badly damaged or destroyed, including some entire communities.
For the 70 families selected as recipients in Hotonj, the USAID grant is a godsend, even though will leave the bulk of their neighbourhood an unreconstructed mess. The main repairs will be carried ouws to remove tonnes of rubble.
Gabrijel Delic, 43, Croat commander for the Bosnian government army in Hotonj during the war, is one of those readying his house for contruction crews. “Not even rats live here. The damage is was so severe there's nothing for them,” he said during a tour of his wrecked home which is riddled with holes from tank shells. “I have to get at least one floor finished by winter so I can bring my wife and four children back from Croatia where they spent the war. That's my only hope now.”
Local officials said many of the 780 other homes in Hotonj which are not receiving emergency assistance will never be rebuilt. Some of the families who lived in them have undoubtedly gone from Sarajevo and Bosnia for good. |
Berserkistan, May 15 · World Bank Approves $40 Million in Loans to Help Re-Build Bosnia
U.S. Agency for International Development
Catholic Relief Services
The World Bank
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