The New Hall in Karlovac Faces Roof Collapse

After a commission determined in early December that under the weight of snow, the roof of the only four-year-old sports hall of the Economic-Tourism School in Karlovac is at risk of collapsing, and the hall, which cost 14 million kuna, has been banned from use, there is still no answer to the question of who will carry out the necessary roof repairs and who will pay for it all.

As Željko Šančić, the head of the Office for Education, Culture, Technical Culture, Sports, and Information of Karlovac County, reminded at the last session of the Karlovac County Assembly, the construction of the hall was financed by the then Ministry of Regional Development from 2006 to 2008 at the initiative of Karlovac County. The project execution holder, Coning, selected the contractor, Projekt gradnju from Slavonski Brod, in accordance with the tender obligations to choose the cheapest bidder.

Since the beginning of construction, Šančić says, it was noticed that the contractor was not working correctly and in accordance with the planned dynamics, as they simultaneously took on many construction sites across Croatia and thus overcommitted themselves. Immediately after the completion of the hall, deficiencies in the waterproofing of the roof were noticed, to which, according to Šančić, the contractor was warned, but did not rectify these deficiencies appropriately. Moreover, the thermal insulation material in the roof became so saturated with rainwater due to leaks that its weight began to compromise the static structure of the roof, and under the weight of the snow, the situation began to deteriorate drastically. In the end, the contractor attempted to evade responsibility by stating that the guarantees on the waterproofing had expired; however, Šančić emphasizes that the guarantee on the structure lasts for ten years. An additional report from a certified construction expert only confirmed the existing danger, after which there has been, at least until now, unproductive correspondence among all stakeholders in this case. As a solution to salvage what can be salvaged at this stage, Karlovac County is considering allocating 1.2 million kuna from the total of 1.5 million kuna it has available for all its secondary schools for the estimated value of the roof repair work.

– In the procedural exchange of efforts from the County to the Ministry, from the Ministry to Coning and the supervisory authority, and from the supervisory authority to the contractor, we want to create the conditions based on which, if the County indeed has to pay for the repair work now, we can later recover that money from the contractor. Judging by everything, it is very likely that Projekt gradnja will not come to repair the roof, as that contractor has been engaged for three years on the renovation of the Nikola Tesla Technical School in Vukovar. Unfortunately, we have seen in the media in recent weeks how that is progressing and what problems are arising. Now that they have promised Minister Jovanović that they will complete the Vukovar school by the end of February, that will be their priority, so it is certain that we will not see the roof repair of our hall completed in a reasonable timeframe by that contractor. Therefore, it is most likely that the County will have to urgently finance the roof repairs with its own funds, while at the same time our legal services will do everything to recover those costs from the contractor, said Željko Šančić.