Life In Novi Travnik

Stanislav Angster Retired Engineer, Bratstvo, Novi Travnik (BNT) For the first ten years the town had no cemetery. No-one was buried in Novi Travnik. The town had no church or mosque. The construction of Novi Travnik and the "Bratstvo" (brotherhood) factory started simultaneously. "Bratstvo" from Novi Travnik was founded in 1949 by the decision of Marshal Tito on the building of military industry. But with this unfortunate war, production stopped, so that today the factory does not have a manufacturing programme, and the cadres were dispersed. Some of the people who stayed on are trying to resume production. CAPTION: The BNT "Bratstvo" Novi Travnik conglomerate employed 11,000 workers before the war.... LOCATION: "BNT Bratstvo" complex Novi Travnik: Mustafa Dautovic BNT Tractor Factory Here we are in the tractor factory with the basic manufacturing plant for caterpillar-wheel tractors. Unfortunately the biggest problem is that the State does not support us at all in the privatisation programme. The State supports only those people who live at the State's expense, not at all those who make money. Their point of view is that; "why does Bosnia and Herzegovina need a tractor when there are very few fields suitable for agriculture for a tractor of our type of production". My view is if someone is to produce an item solely for the BiH market, he won't be able to produce it. The people working in the present Government are collecting as much money as they can by raising different taxes and dues etc. So they make it very hard for us to start production. CAPTION Up to 1990, BNT produced 400 tractors a year, since then it has only produced six... Before the war the main production of BNT was armaments. Šaban Rizvic BNT Holding Company Novi Travnik shows the state of the metal industry in Central Bosnia, and perhaps the whole country. Q (Gerald Knaus): You have a product and you have a market, but how much longer can you survive without new investment? Šaban RIZVIC Approximately 2 to 3 years if there will be no significant changes. Without new staff, and without new investment, I am sure that this enterprise, which still employs a lot of people will be closed. Q: So that means that Bosnia will go back in time? Šaban Rizvic Yes the setback will be equal to 50 years and nationwide, back to the state of things in the period between 1949 and 1955. Unless this Government takes more significant steps in this sense, I think that the whole metal industry will collapse. Q: This will be the end of "Bratstvo"? Šaban Rizvic Yes the end of "Bratstvo," and the end of Novi Travnik, and our perspective in general becomes very questionable. LOCATION: Novi Travnik "Green Market". Piece To Camera: *Gerald Knaus So what we have here is basically a typical ex-Yugoslav economy; the way we find it in Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, and all across Bosnia. An industrial town with one major industry producing weapons for markets that have disappeared. An industry, where many of the former workers have gone elsewhere. And an industry on which the whole town depended, VOX POPS Q: How is business? *Market Trader On and off. It depends on how much money people have. There's no work. No-one is employed. *Pensioner Everybody wants to have a decent life. Today there is nothing left of it. *Milk-seller I sell my (milk) products on credit. When the customers get their wages or their pensions, they pay me. Q: We want to understand how people live in this town without industry. *Pensioner A: You must live with what God gives us. We cannot be buried alive. It's been three years since I returned to my village. I sow and that's how I get along I suppose. I am 75, my dear, but still I have to scratch around. You can't buy everything, you just can't.

Channel: Howto & Style
Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
Author: esiweb

Length: 05:29
Rating: 4.62
Views: 17506

Tags: ESI  Novi  Travnik  work  

Video Comments