Švaljek is one of favourites to try to defeat current Mayor Milan Bandić.
Independent member of the Zagreb City Assembly and a candidate for Mayor of Zagreb Sandra Švaljek said on Saturday that Zagreb needed a new approach to management of urban resources, a series of development projects, and city administration that will be transformed into a modern service for the citizens of Zagreb, reports Jutarnji List on October 29, 2016.
Švaljek presented her manifesto titled “My Vision of Zagreb” and discussed why she decided to run for Zagreb Mayor at local elections which will take place in May. She said that Zagreb can become a modern city with a high quality of life and give its residents an opportunity to fulfil their ambitions. Priority areas in her manifesto are development and revitalization of urban spaces, creating good opportunities for employment and businesses, sustainable waste management, radical changes in the transport system, new approach to energy and environmental protection, improvement of living conditions in all neighbourhoods, and de-politicization of the cultural sector.
She stated that the waste management system in Zagreb was contrary to European standards of sustainable waste management. Therefore she wants to establish a modern and comprehensive waste management system that will be based on the highest possible utilization of waste. Her goal is to increase the collection and recycling of waste to 50 percent by 2020, increase biological recycling from the current 10 to 70 percent, reduce the proportion of waste going to landfills from 80 to 20 percent, and reduce the amount of waste per capita by 10 percent.
Švaljek also announced projects which she considers to be the most important ones: reconstruction of the Upper and Lower Town, reconstruction of the urban railway system and the transformation of spaces along the railway tracks, transformation of derelict factory complexes, and construction of new bridges of the Sava River.
She was asked by reporters about the fact that she is so critical towards current Mayor Milan Bandić, although she was his deputy for a while. “I have seen how things work in the city administration and saw a number of areas that need to be modernized”, she said. Švaljek added that she did not talk with anyone about supporting her candidacy. “I am a non-partisan and independent candidate. If a party were to decide to support my candidacy, then we would probably talk about it. My primary support are the citizens”, she stressed.
Švaljek believes there is a possibility for further reducing the number of employees in the Zagreb Holding Company, which includes the majority of city-owned public companies. “That does not mean layoffs, but reduction in a natural way so that those who retire are not replaced with new employees”, she said.
