Independent councilor Davor Matijević, former head of the Split SDP, announced on Monday that he would support the city budget proposal for next year at the City Council session because the Government has initiated the procedure for donating the Zagreb Hotel in Duilovo for conversion into a nursing home.
"I will support the budget tomorrow because my condition has been met, but that does not mean that I am part of the majority that goes to coalition meetings," Matijević said at a press conference. He will also support the budget rebalance for this year, which has been re-included on tomorrow's session's agenda, after it failed to receive a majority of councilors' support in November.
He pointed out that donating the Zagreb Hotel to the City of Split is a big deal because it is worth around 50 million euros, and announced that he would be the volunteer project manager for the conversion of the hotel in Duilovo into a home for the elderly, which he had agreed with Mayor Tomislav Šut.
Matijević thanked everyone who supported the initiative to convert the Zagreb Hotel into a nursing home, mentioning Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.
Matijević launched the initiative to allocate the Zagreb Hotel to the City of Split with Ante Zoričić, a former city councilor from the Pokreni grad party.
Zoričić said that in order to realize the grant, the Ministry of Defense must first resolve the status of the existing users, followed by an assessment of the value of the property and the opinion of the State Attorney's Office, after which the project will be on the agenda of the City Council, and then registration will follow.
"The legality of the facility is questionable, it needs to go through the legalization process, and at the same time we need to amend the GUP so that we can upgrade the facility and expand its capacities. Only after that will the conceptual design and tender follow," explained Zoričić.
He says that the current capacity of the Zagreb Hotel is around 500 beds, and that 1000 beds will need to be provided and an additional building will need to be built to accommodate inpatients.
Matijević's support for the budget should be the decisive 16th vote for a supermajority of 31 councilors, meaning that there will be no special elections for the Split City Council.
Photo: HINA/Mario Strmotić
