How this Serbian town saved itself from separatists
22 March 2014 5:11 AM IST
The exodus came later, during peacetime, when Gorazde was forgotten, a riverside town of bombed and idled factories where jobs were few and far between. Two decades later, however, Gorazde is once again showing the way - as a magnet for job-seekers lured by a local industrial boom in a country otherwise plagued by unemployment, corruption and political inertia.
While more than a quarter of Bosnia’s workforce is jobless, in Gorazde the number of people in work has almost doubled over the past five years. Its factories count among their clients some of the giants of the world’s auto industry. ‘Gorazde was forgotten and neglected by the state,’ said Mayor Muhamed Ramovic, known to locals as ‘Rambo’ for his get-ahead personality. ‘There were always promises that were not met, and that’s why we decided to save Gorazde by ourselves, with the help of our businessmen.’
The story of Gorazde’s revival has become particularly pertinent since February, when Bosnia was convulsed by its worst civil unrest since the war, fuelled by frustration over a stagnant economy and a corrupt political class. Social discontent runs deep, posing a growing challenge to Bosnia’s post-war political order without meaningful progress on the economic front. For many, Gorazde shows how.
BUSINESSMAN’S RETURN
Its industry ravaged by the war, Gorazde was left isolated in peace - part of an autonomous, mainly Bosniak and Croat entity called the Federation to which it was joined only by a thin land corridor and surrounded by Serb-held territory. By 2008, just 3,500 of the 25,000 people living in the wider Gorazde region had jobs. Others were leaving.
The roots of the turnaround lay in a decision in 2005 by Gorazde-born businessman Redzo Bekto to return from Austria, where he had fled during the war. What began as a modest, eight-person operation called Bekto Preciza today boasts 432 employees and exports car parts to the likes of Audi, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes. Word spread in the automobile industry, and others followed. One company, ASA Prevent, has opened two plants in the town since 2008 and today employs 1,100 people.
‘We offered investors a skilled workforce with know-how from the chemical and defence industries that existed here before. And we had the Bekto family, which brought investors,’ said Emir Frasto, head of the Gorazde cantonal government, or ‘prime minister’ under Bosnia’s highly decentralised system.
In 2011, the cantonal government offered investors state-owned land for 1 Bosnian marka (50 euro cents), on the condition that whoever took up the offer would hire 760 workers over the following two years and pay salaries above the Bosnian average.
While more than a quarter of Bosnia’s workforce is jobless, in Gorazde the number of people in work has almost doubled over the past five years. Its factories count among their clients some of the giants of the world’s auto industry. ‘Gorazde was forgotten and neglected by the state,’ said Mayor Muhamed Ramovic, known to locals as ‘Rambo’ for his get-ahead personality. ‘There were always promises that were not met, and that’s why we decided to save Gorazde by ourselves, with the help of our businessmen.’
The story of Gorazde’s revival has become particularly pertinent since February, when Bosnia was convulsed by its worst civil unrest since the war, fuelled by frustration over a stagnant economy and a corrupt political class. Social discontent runs deep, posing a growing challenge to Bosnia’s post-war political order without meaningful progress on the economic front. For many, Gorazde shows how.
BUSINESSMAN’S RETURN
Its industry ravaged by the war, Gorazde was left isolated in peace - part of an autonomous, mainly Bosniak and Croat entity called the Federation to which it was joined only by a thin land corridor and surrounded by Serb-held territory. By 2008, just 3,500 of the 25,000 people living in the wider Gorazde region had jobs. Others were leaving.
The roots of the turnaround lay in a decision in 2005 by Gorazde-born businessman Redzo Bekto to return from Austria, where he had fled during the war. What began as a modest, eight-person operation called Bekto Preciza today boasts 432 employees and exports car parts to the likes of Audi, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes. Word spread in the automobile industry, and others followed. One company, ASA Prevent, has opened two plants in the town since 2008 and today employs 1,100 people.
‘We offered investors a skilled workforce with know-how from the chemical and defence industries that existed here before. And we had the Bekto family, which brought investors,’ said Emir Frasto, head of the Gorazde cantonal government, or ‘prime minister’ under Bosnia’s highly decentralised system.
In 2011, the cantonal government offered investors state-owned land for 1 Bosnian marka (50 euro cents), on the condition that whoever took up the offer would hire 760 workers over the following two years and pay salaries above the Bosnian average.
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