“Akvana” workers waited four months to have their health certificates certified

01.08.2024. / 15:48

BANJALUKA – The workers of the company “Akvana” can only certify their health cards from today, four months after the million dollar loan that was supposed to solve this problem was approved.

Namely, at the beginning of April, the Assembly of the City of Banjaluka approved the decision on the credit indebtedness of the City of Banjaluka in the amount of 1.3 million KM, in order to solve the issue of unpaid taxes and contributions for the workers of “Akvana”, which is why the workers did not have health insurance.

Solving that problem was rather slow, because the employees of this public company can only certify their health cards from today.

That this is the case was confirmed by the director of this company, Svetislav Lazić, who is in favor CAPITAL said that the loan securing procedures and various registrations in the institutions took so long.

“Obligations based on taxes and contributions were settled by July 30 this year, and on August 1, the long-standing problem with health insurance was resolved and all “Akvana” workers can easily certify their health cards. Multi-year obligations to the Tax Administration of the RS have been settled, and we can state that, unfortunately, in the 21st century, solving health insurance is the biggest achievement of the company since its foundation. said Lazic.

PHOTO: City of Banjaluka

When it comes to the operations of this company, Lazić said that in the first half of the year, the income was 1,305,397 KM, and the expenditure was 1,307,024 KM, which resulted in a loss in the amount of 1,627 KM.

“The loss is significantly lower compared to the same period last year, which is primarily the result of a household approach in all aspects of business. Revenues from services have increased, primarily at outdoor swimming pools, and many costs have decreased, such as fuel and energy costs by five percent,” said Lazic.

He added that the personal income item was increased due to the RS Government’s decision to increase the minimum wage by 22 percent compared to the first half of 2023. He stated that the value of a hot meal has also increased since January 2024.

We would like to remind you that this is a public company that has been operating positively in only one year, 2022, since its foundation. This resulted in the accumulation of millions of losses, which according to the latest information amounts to 13.4 million KM.

Because of all this, the City of Banjaluka had to intervene on two occasions to save this public enterprise from collapse. In addition to the above-mentioned loan of 1.3 million KM, Last year, the city borrowed five million KMand the largest part of that money (4.1 million KM) went to pay the debts of “Akvana”, while the rest should be used for investments.

In such circumstances, the management of “Akvana” planned certain investments in the water park in the village of Borik. Preliminary projects for the reconstruction of certain parts of the location are being prepared. and “Akvana” plans to allocate around 800,000 KM for the preparation of that documentation. Planned works are not included in that sum, so the question arises from which sources the financing will be provided.

Lazić said that the works are foreseen in the study on the restructuring and consolidation of this company.

“Financing is planned from the available dedicated funds, and the implementation will be when all legal requirements are met and in accordance with the decisions of the company’s supervisory bodies”, he added.

CAPITAL: V. Popović