GSP Trade Union after meeting with Vucic: Public-private partnership with Strela to be suspended

The President of the Trade Union of the City Transport Company (GSP) “Centar”, Ivan Bankovic, has stated that, at today’s meeting with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, it was decided to suspend the public-private partnership of GSP with Strela from Obrenovac.

He stated that the Ministry of Economy would withdraw its consent that day, and thus the City of Belgrade would lose its consent for the implementation of this public-private partnership.

The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Economy, Adrijana Mesarovic, and the advisor to the Mayor of Belgrade in charge of public transport, Goran Medakovic.

– We expect that the tender for 60 new trolleybuses will be successfully implemented with the help of the state. It is a tender that is being implemented by the City, but the state will find a way to help – Bankovic told reporters after the meeting and added that the bids would be opened on July 22.

He pointed out that they had also discussed the procurement of 30 electric buses for the needs of GSP and added that the technical details remained to be agreed with the City of Belgrade, which, as he said, would now have to talk to the GSP unions.

– GSP will remain in Dorcol, there will be no relocation of the plant – he said. Brankovic said that they had also discussed the procurement of 220 new buses, as well as the needs for reforms of GSP and public transport, and that they agreed that the public transport costs were unsustainable.

– GSP’s total debts are 27.7 billion dinars, that is unsustainable – said Bankovic.

When asked how he would comment on the fact that Belgrade Mayor Aleksandar Sapic had not been at the meeting, he said that it was not a question for him and that he would have preferred to have met and talked to him.

GSP workers have been addressing the City, the Government and ultimately the President of Serbia for the past two months in order to find a solution to their demands regarding the survival of GSP.

They are demanding the suspension of the public-private partnership, the urgent purchase of at least 90 new trolleybuses, the procurement of 300 new buses for the needs of GSP, and state guarantees that no more lines in Belgrade will be taken away from GSP and given to private companies.

JKP GSP Beograd

ASP Strela doo Obrenovac

Ministarstvo privrede Republike Srbije

Predsedništvo Republike Srbije

GSP Trade Union Centar

GSP Beograd

Strela Obrenovac

Ministry of Economy

President of Serbia

Aleksandar Vučić

Adrijana Mesarović

Goran Medaković

Ivan Banković

public private partnership

suspension

trolleybuses tender

GSP Beograd debts

electric buses

public procurement procedure