Opposition members of the Pristina city assembly and NGOs say decision to lease 17 hectares of land to the Sunny Hill music festival for 99 years lacked transparency and equity.
British singer with Kosovo origin Dua Lipa performs on stage during the Sunny Hill Festival in Pristina, Kosovo, August 10, 2018. Photo: EPA-EFE/STRINGER
The decision of the Pristina municipality to lease 17 hectares of land for 99 years to the international music festival Sunny Hill in the village of Bernice e Poshtme/Donja Brnjica, has drawn criticism from the opposition and civil society.
Diell Haxhimusa, from the NGO Initiative for Progress, INPO, which monitors municipal affairs, told BIRN on Friday that “the procedure used for the division of this [land] parcel was not the best possible … because it included direct negotiations with the mayor”.
Haxhimusa noted that the mayor had the legal right to directly negotiate in cases where “the investment is at least 10 per cent of the total capital investments of the municipality in the previous year”.
According to the auditor’s report, in 2020 Pristina municipality had 16,421,119 euros of capital investment. The 2021 report has not been published yet.
Alban Kastrati, one of the managers of Sunny Hill festival, told Kosovo media outlet Koha on Thursday that the festival plans to invest around 7 million euros within seven years in the land the municipality has offered. “The idea is to create a public park with the festival’s own investments,” Kastrati said.
On Tuesday, the assembly of the municipality, led by the Democratic League of Kosovo’s Perparim Rama voted with 26 votes in favour, 19 against and three abstentions to lease Sunny Hill a 17-hectare property in Bernica e Poshtme/Donja Brnjica for 99 years.
According to the contract, the municipality cannot use the land for any other event 40 days before and 20 days after the Sunny Hill festival is held.
It can only use the site for 60 days within a year, for such events as classical and jazz music concerts, including festivals of the Philharmonic of Kosovo. These events should also not have more than 3,000 participants.
According to Haxhimusa, the contract does not clarify how events organized by the municipality will be regulated, “especially in the part when the municipality is not allowed to organize events where an entrance fee is paid.
“At one point, the contract specifies that 30 per cent of the profit from the revenues of activities organized by the municipality belong to the Municipality of Prishtina, which creates room to understand that 70 per cent of the profit belongs to the company this property is given for usage”.
The festival, meanwhile, has no right to construct anything outside the approved site and has no right to change the purpose of the property.
“This festival brings great world artists and has created the opportunity for the arrival of a large number of tourists. It has brought 8 to 9 million euros to the capital,” Mayor Rama told the Assembly on May 10, defending the plan.
However, members of the municipal Assembly from the opposition Vetevendosje party opposed the contract, mainly the idea od giving such a large space to one single festival for 99 years.
Vetevendosje Assembly member Gezim Svecla called for a more favourable contract to be negotiated. After that, within a couple of days, “you will have all the assembly in favour”, he said.
“We are giving a public property of 17 hectares, equal to almost 30 football fields, to one company,” Svecla added: “We strongly agree to give a parcel to Sunny Hill – but some equality [between the partners] should be reached [first]”.
Haxhimusa told BIRN that the negotiating procedure was “non-transparent and minimizes the competition of interested parties, unlike other procedures used for the assignment of [land] parcels in use”.
The festival is the largest music festival in Kosovo, founded in 2018 by the world-famous singer of Albanian origin, Dua Lipa, and her father, Dukagjin Lipa.
In 2018 and 2019, it was held in Germia Park, in the capital, but due to the park’s limited capacity, it will have to change its location.
Kastrati, one of the managers, told BIRN that all the preparations are being made for this year’s edition to be the biggest ever.
“Sunny Hill Festival will be held in the first week of August 2022, and all preparations are being made for this to be the largest edition ever made – in terms of the number of participants that will be part of the festival, as well as the number of performing artists,” he said.
The Pristina-based community centre Termokiss meanwhile organized talks “against the agreement of the Municipality of Pristina and Sunny Hill” on Friday.
It said it was inviting Dua Lipa “to walk the streets of Pristina and to experience the oppression that happens to us in our public spaces. We also invite her to talk to citizens and non-profit initiatives that wander the directorates and ministries for years asking for space for development and societal growth”.
Following approval by the Municipal Assembly, the decision will have to be approved by the Ministry of Local Government Administration, MLGA.
Source link: balkaninsight.com
