Zagreb mayor to continue with his fountains project.
Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić has officially marked the start of the second phase of works along the Hrvatske Bratske Zajednice Street, which includes the construction of new so-called “Bandić’s Fountains”. Excavators have already begun to prepare the ground on the south side, and a large billboard with the presentation of the entire project has been put up. The construction of the controversial fountains will cost about 30 million kuna and will be paid from the city budget. The fountains were designed by architect Helena Paver Njirić, while the construction works will be performed by Vodotehnika, reports Index.hr on February 1, 2016.
Former Construction and Physical Planning Minister Anka Mrak Taritaš said last night that the project would be great if other local utility problems in Zagreb were solved. “When you drive next to the fountains, on your left you can see the fountains, and on your right you can see the Trnje city district which has no regular water supply, drainage system and other things, but these are invisible parts of municipal infrastructure. The fountains are called ‘Bandić Fountains’ because it is something that can be seen”, said Mrak Taritaš.
Bandić told reporters that the cost of the new fountains will be the same as the cost of the two fountains which have already been built at the site since the whole infrastructure has already been prepared and 30 metres below the fountains there is a creek which will provide water. He recalled that in 1906 the then Zagreb Mayor Milan Amruš made two fountains at Zrinjevac, at the time when Zagreb had just 52,000 inhabitants, and today it has 870,000 inhabitants and he is building just three fountains. We are going to renovate all the fountains in Zagreb and this project will be completed by the end of the year, announced the Mayor.
Answering the criticism made by Mrak Taritaš about the fountains and the fact that Zagreb still has no cableway to the Sljeme Mountain, Bandić said that the former minister has no choice but to criticize. He added that the water supply problems will be solved, while the cableway will be finished by the end of 2017.
Before the ceremony at the location of the three fountains, Bandić visited Sesvetski Kraljevec district where a water tank Cerje was build, which will provide safe and quality water supply to the eastern part of Zagreb and eastern parts of the Zagreb County. The value of the project is about 94 million kuna. Bandić complained there that journalists do not want to write about such important projects, but only about the “Bandić Fountains”.
