The Centre for Local Government (CLS) has said that over the past two years, the Belgrade government has reduced its budget for the maintenance and cleaning of storm drains by up to 42 per cent, which has resulted in the capital’s poor resistance to the heavy rains of recent days.
The announcement states that, compared to 2020, when the city of Belgrade allocated 670 million dinars to ‘drain cleaning, sewer and fountain maintenance’, this year the budget for these activities amounts to only 390 million.
The CLS adds that “this reduction can have potentially catastrophic consequences”, as seen two days ago when several streets in Belgrade were severely flooded after heavy rains.
(Nova, 07.07.2022)
Photo credits: Filip Krainčanić/Nova.rs
This post is also available in: Italiano