Only a little more than three years after the 320 million dinar reconstruction carried out by "Tončev construction", and was supervised by the company "Grming" of the native brother of the Niš alderman, this morning from the building of the Gymnasium in Prokuplje Part of the facade fell off above the main entrance. No one was injured because luckily it was a non-working day.
Employees noticed early this morning that the facade had given way. The director of the school, Nebojša Radenković, confirms to Južne vesti that part of the building fell after 6 o'clock in the morning, because then a group of students and a teacher went to the competition and everything was fine then.
Luckily it's Sunday.
While citizens comment on social networks that "it's lucky that it's Sunday", the City Administration of Prokuplje states that it is about "de-sticking the protective mesh and surface layer" and claims that there is no safety risk because it is a light material. However, they say that they will not tolerate mistakes.
The owner of the construction company "Tončev gradnja" and minister without portfolio in the Government of Serbia, Novica Tončev, said today, on the occasion of the demolition of part of the facade in the Prokupac Gymnasium, that the works were carried out according to the project, stressing that this was "noted by the supervisory authority" and that "it is available to all competent authorities".
"As a civil engineer with over 35 years of work experience and more than 1.000 built apartments, I remind you that there are four phases in construction: planning, design, execution and use and maintenance of the building. 'Tončev gradnja' worked on the third phase, which involved the reconstruction of the building and the works were carried out according to the project, which was also noted by the supervisory authority," Tončev said in a statement to Insider.
Over 1000 students
The Gymnasium building, which is used by over 1.000 students from two schools, was opened in January 2022 after numerous delays. The works financed through the Office for Public Investments were followed by the shadow of political connections, which is now being reminded by the opposition.
People's deputy of SSP Jelena Milošević points out that this is the epilogue of "party combinations" where the main actors were the then minister Branko Ružić, his party colleague Novica Tončev as a contractor and the brother of Niš councilor Ivan Grmuša as a supervisor.
The execution of the works was entrusted to the company of party colleague Tončevo, and the supervision of the company "Grming doo" owned by the brother of Niš councilor Ivan Grmuša. When the contractor is the minister, and the supervisor is the councilman's brother, quality cannot be expected because they are not there to build, but to fit in - says Milošević.
Building under state protection
The building of the Gymnasium in Prokuplje was built in 1934 and is a cultural asset under state protection. In its long history, the school has graduated numerous outstanding individuals from the fields of science, medicine, culture and art.
Precisely because of the age of the building and its status as a cultural heritage, there were no significant investments in previous decades, and classes were interrupted on several occasions due to poor conditions, especially during the winter period.
Source: Southern News/FoNet
