8th meeting of mayors and entrepreneurs in Croatia
November 30, 2016.
This year we participated in the 8th meeting of mayors and entrepreneurs, organized by the news magazine Leader, this time held in Pula. It is the most important such meeting that connects the local governments with entrepreneurs in various areas of common actions. According to the latest information this event was attended by more than 50 mayors and representatives of local government.
In addition to welcoming words, mayor of Pula Boris Miletic briefly presented examples of good practice in Pula, since the city of Pula is leader in communication with citizens, but also in the introduction of new technologies in the everyday work of the public administration. It is imortant to mention that for years, Pula is among the top 10 most transparent cities in Croatia.
At this year's conference, the most important issue, and an area that has attracted the most attention was energy planning in urban development and efficient waste management. In particular, we highlight the exposure REGEA on '' Smart Cities and Energy Renewal - How to Start and Finance? '' In this presentation they especially took note of the initiatives goes underway which will make Zagreb energy-efficient city.
In the second part of the program other relevant topics were presented, such as the role of local communities in attracting investment, economic solutions and initiatives like the new projects of the company Europlakat, energy efficient lighting cities in the online environment from Philips Ligtning, and smart solutions for more efficient city management from company Bisnode.
The second day of the conference was characterized by a new tax reform and its effect on the functioning of cities, but also new strategy for the state property management was discussed. Although the new tax reform in principle accepted, the prevailing opinion of the local mayors is what will be with the budgets of their cities in 2017, as the reform foresees reduction of their previous income of 1.6 billion Kn. Although there are announcements from State Government to compensate these funds from the state budget, the vast majority of the mayor is worried, fearing that all this will lead to reduction of some, while other local services will become more expensive at the expense of citizens.
In the end it was very interesting to see all the new initiatives and technologies that are already on the market or in the experimental stage. It is easy to conclude that the cities in the very near future will be more connected, faster and transparent. It is inevitable that the next year in Croatia will be even more Smart Cities.
Ivan Majhen