Zagreb, development all-round

Waste management, post-earthquake reconstruction, urban services: there are various areas in which the administration of the Croatian capital, led by the progressive green coalition "Možemo" (We Can) since 2021, has intervened also thanks to European funds. We talked about it with Luka Korlaet, deputy mayor of Zagreb

After over twenty years of almost uninterrupted administration by Mayor Milan Bandić, the green and progressive coalition “Možemo” won the municipality of Zagreb in the spring of 2021. Since then the party - born in 2019 - has become one of the main forces policies in Croatia. In the general elections of 17 April, Možemo more than doubled the number of his deputies (from 4 to 10), achieving a good result in Zagreb, which bodes well for the 2025 local elections. However, there is no shortage of criticism of the new council. We interviewed the deputy mayor and MP Luka Korlaet.

One of the first challenges of the new administration was to bring order to the municipality's budget, to the contracts signed with private companies and to Zagrebački Holding (the public company that deals with urban services). After three years, can this chapter be considered concluded?

An in-depth investigation carried out by the new administration of Zagrebački Holding (ZGH) at the beginning of our term revealed a huge surplus of administrative employees, i.e. a disproportion between the number of operational and administrative staff. While in foreign companies of this type the ratio is 7 to 1, in ZGH the ratio reached 3 to 1, which means that for every three workers there was one administrator. This relationship was unsustainable and for this reason approximately seven hundred employees were placed in technical redundancy, and their position was resolved in various ways (hiring in operational positions, severance pay, etc.). The financial reorganisation has created the conditions for hundreds of new hires in the operational department and for interventions to modernise equipment and optimise work performance.

The waste issue marked the first years of the new administration. One of Možemo's promises during the election campaign was to increase the percentage of recycled waste in the city. However, the new waste collection system seems to be working with some difficulty. Why?

I do not agree. Already during the first year of implementation, the system has given good results: the amount of mixed municipal waste has decreased by a quarter and the amount of separated plastic and organic waste has increased by more than 50%. The new waste disposal system is based on a new European directive which can be summarised with the slogan "the polluter pays". Those who separate waste are "rewarded" and those who separate less or do not separate are "penalised", with a system of bags that work like a coin: it is therefore possible not to separate, but you pay for it (by purchasing the so-called "ZG bags more often”). This system has been adopted by many cities such as Zurich, Brussels or London.

There is certainly room for improvement, which we are working on: we have increased patrols and sanctions by the municipal police, we are positioning cameras in key places, introducing the tracking of garbage trucks... It seems that disobedience to the new rules stems ​​partly from habits that are difficult to change, and partly from the desire to oppose the political party that established these rules, which I consider particularly problematic.

Finally, for the system to be complete, we will create a waste management centre, for which we are preparing the documentation. It will be located in Resnik, next to the wastewater treatment plant, and will consist of a sorting, composting and mechanical and biological waste treatment plant.

Zagreb was hit by two earthquakes in 2020. Many buildings are still awaiting reconstruction today and many facades, particularly downtown, are unsafe. Why is reconstruction progressing so slowly?

When talking about reconstruction we must first remember that the renovation of private buildings is managed by the State. 80% of the renovation costs are financed from the state budget, while the municipality of Zagreb is required to co-finance the reconstruction with a contribution of 20%, and it does so: for this purpose we provide approximately 20 million Euros every year. Furthermore, we made six million Euros available to citizens for emergency repairs, we formed city mobile teams that visited more than 5,000 families and helped them prepare applications for contributions, we provided housing containers to citizens whose homes family members are in the process of reconstruction, we have moved around fifty families into municipal apartments, etc. The construction of new houses by the state proceeds very slowly, while the renovation carried out by citizens proceeds much better.

On the other hand, the renovation of public buildings owned by the municipality is our responsibility. There are hundreds of projects on the table, of which 207 (kindergartens, schools, hospitals, museums, infrastructures...) have been financed by the European Union Solidarity Fund. The Solidarity Fund finances the renovation and strengthening of public buildings. Of these 207, the City has completed 177. In total, 190 million Euros from the Solidarity Fund were used. We have prioritised the renovation of school buildings and now the focus is shifting to hospitals and museums. The deadline for using the Solidarity Fund funds expired on 30 June 2023 and we are now trying to absorb as many funds as possible from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

In 2023, Mayor Tomislav Tomašević announced that his administration had significantly increased the amount of European funds that the municipality managed to attract. How are these funds used?

Funds linked to post-earthquake reconstruction currently make up the largest share in the absorption of European funds. In addition, however, the municipality actively monitors requests for all other funds. For example, within the framework of the European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) mechanism, the new building of the municipal library and the cultural and educational centre in the Paromlin area will be financed, for which we have obtained 40 million Euros, or the reconstruction of the funicular, for which we managed to obtain five million Euros.

The absorption of EU funds is high on the list of priorities because it significantly relieves the city's budget. The numbers speak clearly: the record year for the absorption of EU funds from the previous administration was 2019, when the Remetinec roundabout was being built (with European co-financing of 30 million Euros), while in 2023 this municipal administration obtained 150 million Euros.

One of the criticisms often levelled by the left against the new municipal administration is that, three years after the electoral victory, the promised "green revolution" has not occurred. New trees have been planted, some new (small) pedestrian areas have been introduced, but the city has remained the same, with its transport and air quality problems. Why?

I do not agree. The city has not remained the same. From an ecological point of view, the city has been changing for the better, decisively and constantly. We have planted 8,000 trees and inaugurated the Energy Info Centre (EIC) through which we measure the consumption of four energy sources (water, hot water, electricity and gas) at the level of individual buildings.

Furthermore, through the EIC portal, you can see the solar potential of your roof and calculate possible savings. We have started a wave of energy redevelopment of buildings owned by the Municipality and solarisation of their roofs. We do all this in coordination and with the support of REGEA, the Energy Agency of Northwest Croatia, of which we are co-founders.

We have also acquired 65 new buses and 31 trams (20 of which are new) and for the first time in 20 years we are expanding the tram network with kilometres of new track.

We have started to design the largest underground garage on the edge of the city centre, with 800 spaces, which will relieve the centre of the cars that drive around looking (often in vain) for parking. Three new streets have been turned into pedestrian areas and we have expanded the network of cycle paths (I am referring above all to the Greenway, a path co-financed by EU funds that runs along the embankment of the Sava). Waste disposal is, of course, the most challenging part of the green transition. But here too, as I explained before, the situation is changing.

In 2025 there will be local elections in Zagreb. Why should the inhabitants of the Croatian capital vote for Možemo again? What do you plan to do with a second mandate?

I think we have proven that we are responsible, capable and not corrupt. In three years we have completely restored the city's finances, built 16 schools and an unprecedented number of kindergartens, accelerated the post-earthquake reconstruction of public buildings (absorbing as much as 190 million Euros from the European Solidarity Fund), and supported - to the extent in our power – the reconstruction of private buildings. We have renovated and strengthened municipal enterprises, we have put a lot of effort into urban planning and waste disposal, and introduced a number of social measures for a more equitable management of the housing stock, with housing for the homeless, free public transport for those over 65, etc. Now it is the turn of the so-called “capital projects”. There are eight in total, including our flagship project of the Paromlin Municipal Library, construction of which has just begun.

If we win the elections in 2025, we will complete the construction of all remaining “capital projects”, and start new ones (I am mainly referring to new buildings for affordable social housing), also introducing a series of ”green” measures which will make Zagreb a more pleasant, cleaner and more resilient city. I am referring above all to the construction of a waste management centre, the energy renovation of municipally owned buildings and the further solarisation of their roofs. We will continue to work to optimise traffic and transport in the city.

As an architect, I also have a great desire to restore the facades of the centre, for which we have created all the prerequisites. There is no reason why Zagreb shouldn't shine like Vienna or Prague.